Lab Rat
by Mysterious Prophetess
Summary: Series of one-shots. Galra!Keith. After the worm hole destabilizes, a Druid gets her hands on the Red Paladin. With some help from a rebel Galra, Keith escapes, but he is forever changed. Now he has to deal with the changes while searching for the rest of Voltron. It's hard to wander the cosmos whenever you're now one of the enemy. Cross-Posted on AO3. Mostly Keith-centric.
1. Lab Rat

**MP** : Hello, I recently got dragged into Voltron Hell. I'm also now on AO3 in addition to FF. Net . This is my first officially cross posted work. I used BOotB: Book 1 as a test fic to learn their posting system. Enjoy, _Lab Rat._

 **Summary:** _A Druid has gotten her hands on a prime specimen for her experiments: the Red Paladin of Voltron._

* * *

 **Lab Rat**

It seemed as if pain and cold had been his whole life. Keith couldn't remember when he'd been captured by the Galra. Whatever they were injecting him with was making him constantly vomit whatever gruel they actually attempted to feed him and he was getting weaker by the day.

— — — — — —

 _"Still no change?"_

 _"It takes time, Commander. We must change the inside before we can work on making this one more aesthetically pleasing. His illness is proof the therapy is working. Once it subsides, the rest of the changes will follow."_

 _"Lord Zarkon—."_

 _"Is not here. Leave me to my experiment and I will leave you to your work. No need to alert Lord Zarkon about any of this until we have results."_

— — — — — —

Keith was no longer throwing everything up. The injections had been replaced by a pump that had been attached to the inside of his elbow, with a shackle around it to prevent him from removing it. He was constantly tired. He was also losing his hair to stress. More of it was falling out daily. His mouth hurt, but he could have been grinding his teeth in his sleep, his ears hurt, his eyes hurt, really everything was at a low dull throb. His fingers were tinging purple. What the hell was this stuff doing to him?

— — — — — —

 _The Druid observed the changes and there were slow, but steady. The skin pigmentation would change first, then the follicles would change their pigmentation as the hair cell changed and spread encouraging fur growth, which would happen next. The way the subject was progressing his ears would shift and become more like a sphyrx like those Galra who hailed from the Jungle region, and it was looking like he would also have an impressive mane once it grew in. The changes could be accelerated if she were to submerge the subject in quintessence._

— — — — — —

Keith's usual plate of gruel was slid in without much fanfare. He ate half of it before he realized there was something else in it. The room began to spin he threw the plate away from himself but it was too late. He felt forwards too weak to move, but he was some how fighting off the drug. He was dragged roughly through the ship. The hallway seemed to toss and turn as he was dragged into another room.

"Still conscious? This will be an interesting variable." Keith felt the guards remove the shackle, the pump, and then his clothes. As they were dragging him towards a tank filled with that Qui-whatever stuff, he caught a brief look at his own reflection: he looked horrible. Half his hair was gone, there were dark purple circles under his eyes, and he was pale and covered in purple blotches. He could not have braced for being thrown into the tank, even if he hadn't been half drugged. If there was ever a situation where pain and relief were happening at the same time, and not in a "hurts so good" sort of way, it was this. He lost consciousness after a few moments.

— — — — — —

 _"Pull him out," the Druid said. the droids complied instantly being nothing more than machines. How those things bored her. The subject had been almost completely changed over with that brief submergence, he had a very impressive coat of fur and her guess abbot the mane had been correct, the ears were fully formed and had a thicker coat of fur on them compared to the rest of him. The claw development wasn't as far as she would have hoped, but a final triple strength injection should take care of that and the teeth. She lifted an eyelid and smiled with satisfaction whenever she saw the yellow instead of that odd white. If she looked closer she could still see the pupil beneath the surface, like a proper galran eye. She readied the last injection before adding something else to the mix. An extra dash of quintessence would hurry this along and satisfy the Commander, and perhaps even Lord Zarkon, once they informed him of this experiment's success. She plunged it into the subject's neck before pressing the plunger in. With that, the last of the weak alien traits would be eliminated._

 _"He almost looks like a proper Galra." She pulled the needle out and wordlessly ordered the droids to dress the subject._

 _"I administered the last dose. It should cause his claws to fully develop along with his teeth," the Druid said._

 _"You could have found the key to our supremacy across the universe," the Commander said._

 _"I am aware, I am wondering if I could have another subject to work with to see if I can reduce the time it takes," the Druid said._

 _"I will see to it that you do," the Commander said, he studied the form and frowned, "If this boy's age is correct, we have been facing a half-grown cub."_

 _"I was surprised by that too, but before the changes took, I was unable to tell because aliens all look the same to me," The Druid said._

— — — — — —

Keith regain consciousness back in his cell. Someone had thoughtfully cleaned it. He pushed himself up and held his aching jaw. Whatever happened to him after the bath in that quintessence must have knocked his teeth loose. He paused. He had fur on his face and hand. He could feel it. Keith looked down at his hands in horror. Galra hands. No. No, no, no! They weren't poisoning him slowly, they'd been turning him into one of them! He was suddenly hyper aware of the fur all over. He could feel it and it was so damn weird. He could feel his ears twitching. Twitching? Keith felt his head and found cat-like ears but no human ears. His hair seemed to have grown back, but he had lost his mullet. It was all the same length now and…fluffy. It felt like his…. his fur only silkier. Keith needed to escape before they brainwashed him into working for the Galra, but how?

— — — — — —

Keith's human teeth were rapidly being pushed out in favor of a Galra set and his claws were causing his fingers to bleed as they developed and hardened. The only bright side to this nightmare was no more injections or a pump in his arm. It only took three days of pain for the new set to grow rapidly into place and four days for his claws to finally be finished. Keith was now completely a Galra and he hated it. Hated that, now that he was stable, the food was making him stronger. Hated he could see and hear better than he ever could before, hated his sense of smell was heightened, and hated his own reflection.

— — — — — —

There was an explosion that rocked his cell and he was on alert snarling instinctively. The door was forced open and he was tossed his armor, his bayard, and his dagger.

"Dress now." It was an older male galra. Keith blinked before he did as he was told pulling his armor over his prisoner body suit with plans on burning that once he was free and clear. He carefully pulled the helmet on over his ears, which muffled his hearing but since it was only down to regular human hearing like that, he was alright. He summoned his sword and followed the Galra soldier and summoned his shield to block a hail of blaster bolts from droid. He sliced his way through them and they arrived at the hanger. With the red particle barrier up sat his Lion, mostly repaired.

"I know I look different, but I'm still me," Keith said as he placed a hand o the barrier. It fell and the Red Lion roared at him. Keith paused and looked at his savior.

"Go. Go now!" he said. Keith nodded before he ran into his Lion's mouth and to the cockpit. The Galra operated the controls so the Red Lion was able to get out into space through the airlock into space. A shuttle streaked past his view screen as a shockwave hit the Red Lion. He turned back to see the ship had been destroyed in an explosion.

He was finally free.


	2. Odyssey

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 2!

 **Summary** : _After escaping captivity, Keith is trying to reunite with his team. However, he must land on a planet soon if he doesn't want to starve first, and landing on planets is made all the harder whenever you are now one of the enemy. Wandering the cosmos has never been more complicated._

* * *

 **Odyssey**

Red was still in slightly rough shape as Keith flew it trying to find any hint of the Castle of Lions. He also had no idea how long it had been since he had been captured. The rumble of his stomach alerted him to a very important fact: Keith was going to need to stop on a planet and find food soon. He didn't know how he was going to pay for it, but if he didn't want to starve before rejoining the others, it was something he needed. There was a neutral plant a few clicks out from his position. He was stripping off his armor whenever he caught sight of his bare hand and froze.

Keith had almost forgotten what had been done to him. He stared at a purple hand and sighed. If he, a Galra, walked out there, he would surely frighten the people on the planet. He looked out the view screen and he had landed in a forest of sorts, so he could use his survival skills and get food that way. It wasn't the best method but it had the least chance of frightening the natives.

— — _— —_ _—_ _—_

A rabbit-lizard thing was roasting over a small fire Keith had started in front of his lion. Though it was an alien critter, gutting it wasn't too different than gutting a regular rabbit on Earth. He hoped it tasted like rabbit. Though, if it tasted like lizard, that wouldn't be too bad either. There was a shuffling in the woods behind him. As a human, he would have never heard it, but his unwilling transformation had a few perks, he guessed. Keith drew the dagger and looked in that direction. The low light was plenty for his transformed eyes to reveal it was a sort of small lizard-like alien stalking through the woods. The clothing it wore indicated sentience. It approached the fire with it's arms up, three fingered hands spread in an expression of peace.

"Please, no harm I mean you!" the voice was a child's. Keith nodded as he sheathed his blade.

"Where are your parents?" Keith asked.

"Hunting them, purple demons are. Like you, they look." the child said.

" _Galra_. I'm Keith. What are you called?"

"Hoda, I am."

"Well, Hoda, where are they now?" Keith asked.

"The other side of the forest, they are." Holda said. There was a brief moment of silence before Hoda's stomach rumbled.

"I'll be back. Try to save some of that for me, alright, Hoda?" Keith said as he stalked into the forest. As much as he hated himself for it, he was loving the advantages that came with being a Galra.

— — _— —_ _—_ _— —_

Keith stayed patches of darkness even he was having trouble seeing out of for cover and used his hearing and sense of smell. Fortunately, he was down wind. Three Galra scents. Thirty scents like Hoda. Three that smelled _a lot_ like Hoda, probably family, and six metallic scents. Galra metal. The sounds they made indicated droids. There was also the smell of blood, but it didn't match the Galra or the other scents. Some third thing?

"We're missing one. Those two lizards had two offspring." This voice was gruff, and the fact it was aggressive let Keith know this was probably a Galra.

"What does one little lizard matter in the long run, anyway?" this voice was slimy and oily.

"It matters because we were ordered by Commander Hattagaor to bring him the entire village!" the last voice was deep and rumbling. Keith leapt up into a tree as quietly as a squirrel and stared down at the scene. There was a fire going and some weird lizard-deer-fox thing was being processed by a large lizard person like Hoda at gun point. That explained the blood.

When Hoda grew up, he'd have some impressive horns. These three Galra did not impress Keith, who had faced Zarkon himself as well as Sendak and his underling. The one wth the deep, rumbling voice was in charge. He was a powerfully built Galra with ears like Keith's. The other two were more like Sendak when it came to their ears, only theirs weren't as large or fluffy.

"We're being watched."

The leader had his blaster pointed right at Keith, "Get down here, cub." Keith dropped from the tree landing in a crouch, ears back, eyes narrowed, and fangs bared.

"What the Quiznak are you doing so far from your parents, kid?" It was Oily Voice.

"Don't have any," Keith said.

"Or were you disowned for being a prisoner?" Gruff Voice said.

"They were dead before that," Keith said.

"How did you, a delinquent Galra Cub, get so far from the nearest colony?" Leader said. Keith stayed silent. Leader sighed before he laid his gun down and gestured for his goons to do likewise and the droids were signaled to shut down. Keith stood up but stayed alert.

"How did you get here?" Leader said.

"I flew myself here," Keith said.

"Did you steal a ship?" Oily Voice said.

"Farlan, I'll ask the questions," Leader said, "Did you?"

"No!" Keith said.

"What did you do that you were a prisoner?" Leader asked.

"I existed," Keith said.

"Cross-breed?" Leader said.

"Alien species," Keith said. Without telegraphing his punch, he dropped the Leader before ducking a grab from Farlan only to see Gruff drop him.

"I've heard of some sick things in my time in the Resistance, but this is the first I've encountered a case like yours. Druids?" Gruff said.

"Yes," Keith said.

"I'm Jiore," he said.

"Keith." Jiore eyed Keith up and down with a quirked eye-ridge.

"So why did they _really_ capture you?"

"I'm the Red Paladin of Voltron," Keith said as he sliced off the lock on the cage with his dagger, freeing the lizard folks.

"The same suicidal paladin who dared challenge Zarkon one-on-one?" Jiore said.

"Yes," Keith said. Jiore chuckled and shook his head.

"We'd better tie up Hotor and Farlan before they wake. Hotor is sympathetic to our cause but Farlan is a staunch loyalist, even if he's a lazy crew member. You'd better tie me up as well. And to you, there is a cave in that direction. We Galra cannot track you there," Jiore said, "Too much interference."

"You, we thank," the apparent leader of the lizard people said.

"Wait, before you go, I have someone to return to you," Keith said holding a hand out at the lizard folks.

— — _— —_ _—_ _— —_

Hoda had eaten the whole roasted animal when Keith arrived at his campfire with Hoda's parents.

"Sorry, I am. Very hungry I was."

Once they relocated to the cave, and Keith moved his lion, he was able to share in the larger feast the lizard people made from that beast the three Galra officers had wanted for dinner. If Keith was asked, the meat sort of tasted like pork.

 _— —_ _— —_ _—_ _— —_ _—_

 _"Where did you get that dagger?" Jiore had asked as Keith was using bits of metal and some salvaged chains to bind him and the other galra around trees._

 _"I've always had it."_

 _"Family heirloom I presume?" Jiore said. Keith stared at him,_

 _"Why does that matter?"_

 _"Was it?" Jiore said._

 _"My father said it was my mother's and she got it from her father," Keith said, "Why?"_

 _"That metal was the trademark of the Iyurians. My people, I'm ashamed to say, exterminated their kind. Now I find that they've done so again by overwriting your DNA," Jiore said with a sigh, "Iyurians looked very much like Alteans, but rounder ears and they were very sensitive to quintessence." Keith felt like he'd been punched in the gut._

 _"Th-thank you for telling me this," Keith said after a few moments._

 _"I can't undo what was done to you," Jiore said, "I cannot even begin to apologize so, I won't. Use this to your advantage, and make them regret ever making you one of us. Restore honor to my race, Keith." Keith was silent as he finished tying up Jiore._

 _"I'll try," Keith said before he knocked Jiore out._

 _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

Keith ate his fill and the lizard people were kind enough to let him hunt with them for a few days and showed him out to dry the meat using a method that sped it up immensely that was a sort of natural dehydrator. Armed with dried meat from three large animals, as well as refilling the water tanks in Red, Keith was set for a few weeks in space. He hoped he wouldn't need.

Strictly speaking, those water tanks were part of Red's cooling system, but Keith had found a way to siphon some of it off for himself after Red showed him how.

 _— —_ _— —_ _—_

 _After the crew was reamed out for letting a cub take them unawares, Jiore and his cohorts were assigned KP duty for a week. To Jiore, that was hardly a punishment. In fact, his crew mates preferred it when Jiore was the cook. The food was at least half-edible._

 _"You're burning it! Where is your head?" Jiore shrugged. He had felt bad lying to that cub, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell that child that his "dagger" bore the personal symbol of Zarkon's household and the age the cub looked…._

 _Jiore refused to destroy one of the elements of hope they had in the universe by telling him he was Zarkon's grandson._


	3. Mater

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 3!

 **Summary:** _Whenever you're in deep space with just the clothes on your back and some food, landing on planets on a semi-regular basis is needed. Avoiding the Galra is the trick. A trick that Keith hasn't quite mastered._

 _Fortunately for Keith, he also has a knack for finding those Galra who have just as big a problem with authority as he does._

* * *

 **Mater**

It had been hard keeping ahead of the Galra. Keith was having to hide more and more by the day. It was also starting to get very, _very_ stinky inside the Red Lion's cockpit, but he could barely land on planets long enough to get food or water. Bathing was next to impossible. Especially with the added factor of being covered in fur. He was hunkered down in Red on the underside of an asteroid as a whole Galra convoy flew past, and the smell of himself was overwhelming his heightened senses and making his own eyes water. Next planet he found, he needed to bathe and get some new clothing so he could burn his prisoner jumpsuit. The convoy finally ended and Keith let out a sigh of relief. Most of the data coming from any of the near by planets was in Galran, which Red helpfully translated. There was a mostly uninhabited planet within a nearby star's habitable zone, which was odd, but with what the Galra did to planets, it wasn't entirely unheard of, Keith supposed. He piloted Red cautiously through space keeping a way eye out for any other Galra convoys.

— —

The planet was indeed mostly deserted and Keith could see why. It was a dust ball. He had Red scan for Water and the results came up with subterranean pockets of liquid water. He landed the lion near a cave that, if the readings were correct, would take him to an underground spring. The opening was too small for Red to fit into, so as so as he left the Red Lion, the particle barrier went up. Keith walked in the dim light, even for a G-even for _Him_ until he found a pool illuminated by glowing rocks. With a sweep of the room with all his senses, the Red Paladin stripped and dove into the water. It felt nice. He shook water out of his ears as he stood in the waist deep water and scrubbed at his fur the best he could.

"If you didn't smell so bad, I'd lecture you for potentially contaminating a water source. But seeing as this water is not exactly fit to drink but good enough for washing, I'll let you slide." Keith ducked into the water embarrassed. That was a woman's voice. Striding into view was a Female Galra. She was not too different than her male counterparts Keith had seen before or too different from that Druid. In fact she was somewhere in the middle of the two. A dark purple, furry, strongly built alien woman with cat ears, but with a flowing white mane, walked into view. Her yellow eyes glowing with mirth. She tossed him something and he caught it on instinct. It was a bottle of some sort of soap.

"Use that or your fur will smell terrible even after you dry, Paladin." Keith was on guard but remembered his weapons were on the shore.

"Why are you helping me?" Keith asked.

"While the Resistance isn't well organized, since it's hard to have one at all with those blasted Druids around because some of those bitches can read minds, there are more of us than just Jiore. He sent me a message to let me know _all_ about you. I'm Captain Twyla," she said before she picked up his prisoner jumpsuit between her fingers and covered her nose.

"I'll burn this thing while you're washing and scrounge up some clothing for you. The Empire mostly uses this planet as a massive storage depot. Though, when you're trying to conquer the known universe, you need planet size depots. And don't worry about anyone _else_ finding the Red Lion. I've used my ship to block it from view. Oh, and since you seem new to being fur covered, you need to use that beyond just your mane. Rub that in _everywhere_. It's why it takes forever for we furred Galra to ever get cleaned." Keith blushed before the female walked out.

— —

Keith had just about finished rinsing the soap out of the last of his fur, whenever Twyla returned and he ducked into the water.

"Calm yourself, cub. I've seen it all before!" Twyla said as she reached the edge of the pool and held out a huge towel. "I'll humor you." she looked away as Keith stepped out of the water, snatched the towel, and began to rub it all over himself vigorously.

"I've left you some clothing by your dagger and bayard. When you're dressed, come and join me outside. Just leave the towel here: I'll collect it later." she said before she turned the rest of her body away and left.

Keith finished drying himself off and saw the pile of clothing was simple but not too different from Earthling clothes, and all in shades of black. There were even clean socks next to his boots.

— — —

Feeling much better, Keith walked outside to see the remains of one fire while another one roared with some sort of lizard roasting over it. Keith sat down across from the Galran woman and stared into the flames. Twyla kept stealing glances at him. It was getting old, fast.

"What!" he said. Twyla shrugged.

"You remind me of someone I met a long time ago. Probably just before you were born," Twyla said.

"A Galra?"

"No, an alien. I don't know what species you were _before_ , you didn't tell Jiore so he couldn't tell me, but this man was a "Human" of planet "Earth."" Twyla said. There was silence as Keith stared at Twyla for several moments.

"I was human," Keith said. Mostly. Probably. It was all past tense now anyway.

"Really? Are the other Paladins human?" Twyla said.

"Three without a doubt, the fourth is debatable," Keith said reaching for a leg of lizard. Twyla caught his wrist.

"You might want to wait for me to get the meat off the bones. While the meat of a Minku is safe to eat, the marrow is not," Twyla said, "And we have very sharp fangs just perfect for puncturing bones, kid." She let go of his wrist gently and pulled the spit off the fire.

"How did you meet a human? Was he captured?" Keith said. Twyla pulled out two metal camp plates from a bag next to her. She began to pull the meat off, distributing it evenly between the plates as she spoke,

"No. _I was_. I had crashed on your planet and your government had me locked up. He set me free and took me to safety in the middle of a desert and helped me understand your people a little better. He also helped me steal back my wrecked ship, and I scavenged components from various "junkyards" to cobble together new components when needed. I'm a much better engineer than I am a pilot and a better pilot than a trainee Druid. My mother is a Druid, and hoped this mane of mine meant I was destined to be just like her. I had too much of dear-old-Daddy in me and ended up being lousy at anything beyond simple illusions." She slid him a plate of meat before she tossed the bones into the fire. "Which did come in handy when I was raiding those scrap piles for parts. Eat up, Minku tastes awful cold."

— —

The pair all but inhaled the meat. To Keith, it kind of tasted like snake. He handed Twyla his plate and she tucked in her bag before she stood, wiping her greasy claws on her pant legs. Something he realized he'd just done too.

"I have to report back to my base soon but I have something for you before I go," she said. She returned with a pair of hover crates and she opened the first to reveal at least three months worth of food rations and water he didn't have to siphon from his Lion's cooling tanks like had had been. The second had more water, some clothing, bottles of dry fur cleanser that was clearly meant for Galra since the label was written in Galran with a picture of a Garla on it, and something that looked like cans of an arisole clothing cleaner, if the pictures were any indicator. A deep-space survival kit. He'd had enough.

"Why are you being so nice!" Keith said. Her ears laid back against her head as her eyes narrowed.

"Can't being a resistance member be enough!" She asked, "I want Voltron to win! For that, the Paladins need to survive; what's crazy with wanting that!"

"You're acting like you're-you're my mom!" Keith said. Twyla froze, and some of the fur on her ears bushed up a bit. She stared at him again and sniffed at him before dragging him into a hug he couldn't escape. He pushed against her, but she was far too strong.

"How could I have not seen it? _Smelt_ it?" she said. Keith stiffened whenever he let himself just smell her and his new senses told him that this was family. This was—but he had been human! She let go of him whenever she felt him tremble. She looked into his eyes and sighed at the betrayal and hurt she saw in them.

"I asked him not to tell you," Twyla said, "He had his own secrets, as a half Iyurian, but when you came out with the Iyurian and Human traits dominant and mine recessive, we knew you would be safe on Earth."

"My whole life, was a lie!" Keith yelled, "Appa told me you were dead! He never told me the truth about either of you! He said the dagger was from your father! It's Iyruian metal! You're Galra! Did you even care at all!"

"It _was_ from my father! Before the Iyurians were wiped out, they were the finest metal smiths in the known universe. Many Galra officers commissioned weaponry from them. My father might be one of the vilest beings in the universe, but when it comes to his offspring he actually gives half a quiznak about our happiness and our safety! That dagger was his first gift to me!" Twyla said, "It **ripped my heart out** to leave you behind but I left you that dagger because it was my only way of insuring you would have something of me to protect you!"

"I didn't need it, I needed you!" Keith yelled, "I needed you after Appa died! I needed you after being passed around foster homes! I needed you when I thought my foster brother was dead! I needed you!" He stormed off leaving Twyla standing by the fire.

Though she wanted to cry, she couldn't. She had shed all the tears she could over stepping away from her family. Crying doesn't undo years of regret.

— —

"Is there anything else I should know?" Keith asked once he returned. If Twyla noticed that his fur was wet from tears and his voice was raw from sobbing, she didn't let on. She sighed.

"Since you asked. **_Yes._** My father isn't just any Galra officer," Twyla said, "He's a bit worse than that."

"How much worse can he be?"

"I was rude when I introduced myself earlier. My proper title is her Imperial Highness Princess Twyla. Ninth-born daughter of Zarkon," Twyla said.

 _"You fight like a Galra_."

"I'm related to that monster?" Keith said hollowly.

"You at least have one generation of separation, cub," Twyla said, "Up to one quarter of you is his blood versus one half for me."

"Wouldn't that have changed when that Druid did this to me?" Keith said gesturing at himself.

"Possibly," Twyla said, "Don't give met that look; I was a **_failed_** Druid, remember?" Twyla said, "But you are not your DNA. If I believed that, I would be a happy part of the war machine our race has become. You don't have to forgive me for leaving you. I know I never will forgive myself." Twyla turned to leave.

"Wait." She stopped. Keith tried to say something but nothing came out until he coughed,

"What did you want to name me?" he asked.

"Pardon?" She turned back to him.

"Appa would tell me stories that you didn't like the name "Keith." What did you want to name me?" Keith said.

"I wanted to name you for my Grandfather: Kioreth. It's an older style name among Galra, but he was the one to open my eyes to the reality of the Galra He was part of the Resistance, and-and he was executed for doing what he believed in," Twyla said. Keith didn't say anything but Twyla placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I have faith in you. Help your friends end this," she said before she dropped her hand to her side and stepped back, "Good luck, Keith. I hope we meet again." Keith held an arm out and Twyla grasped it at the forearm, which he copied. There was a weak smile on her face. Keith didn't exactly copy it, but this was a start nonetheless.

"I'd better go, I was due back an hour ago and being a princess doesn't mean glit to my base commander."

— —

Keith still didn't know what to feel about any of it, but as he watched her ship vanish, but he knew that he didn't hate her. He took the crates and dumped them out checking for any sort of tracking devices but found none. He threw everything back in because, he wasn't going to pass up the contents he desperately needed. Red sent him comforting nudges and he nodded before he loaded the crates into Red and took off.

It occurred to him as he flew Red through space, he had no idea how he was going to explain _any_ of this to the others.


	4. Return

**MP** : Here's Chapter 4

 **Summary:** _After weeks of searching, Keith had finally found what he was looking for: The Castle of Lions. Now he has to face the others with what he's become, and their reactions for better or worse._

* * *

 **Return**

Five weeks, as best he could count them, had passed since Keith had escaped Galra Custody. Three weeks since he'd run into Twyla. He had no idea how much longer it was going to take for him to find the Castle of Lions, but he needed to do so sooner rather than later.

— — —

Keith was on some planet the Galra had conquered and thanks to the clothing his— that _Twyla_ had given him, he was able to hide Red beyond the outskirts of the town and walk right in without anyone giving him too many strange looks.

"Cub, where are your parents?" Keith looked to see it was a large lizard-like Galra woman asking him this.

"Leave off him Girra! Just because your cub is off at the academy doesn't mean you need to mother every younger cub you see," Another lizard like Galra said. his ears seemed to be shorter than the identified Girra's and his skin not quite as purple as the average Galran.

"No one asked you, half-breed!" Girra sneered. Keith had used this argument to slip away.

— — —

He finished buying supplies for "his parents" whenever Girra caught up to him with a few armored Galra soldiers with her.

"Can I help you?" Keith said politely.

"Are your parents aware that we have recently instated a planet wide edict that no minors are to be left to wander alone?" A Galran officer said next to her. Though he was covered in armor, Keith could see ears like Sendak's sticking out the side slits.

"No," Keith said, "Why?"

"Enemies of the Empire have been spotted in the system." Keith mentally cursed. They'd seen his lion.

"I'll just get back to the ship then," Keith said.

"We'll escort you," the officer said. Keith shook his head and drew his dagger, the Crest mark carefully covered as it was before everything had happened to him.

"I don't need protecting," he said, his ears flattened.

"Cub has some fangs after all. Very well, get back to your parents, and we don't want to see you unescorted until we can confirm those Altean Terrorists are gone," the officer said. Keith barely stopped his face from reacting but he did and nodded.

— —

Keith was half way to Red whenever he realized he'd forgotten what he'd purchased but if he went back now, they'd continue to harass him. "Altean Terrorists" had to mean the Castle Ship had been spotted or at least another Lion. He got into Red and was in space as soon as it was possible. He flipped the comm channels on and heard a static-y voice that was very familiar.

"Keith? Are you there?"

"Coran!" Keith said into the set. The Video feed was broken, Keith hadn't been able to repair it while on the run.

"Thank the stars! We finally were able to lock onto your signal," Coran's voice said.

"I'm heading right for you," Keith said, "Did you find the others?"

"We did. Shiro was touch and go for a while but he's stabilized. The others were a bit banged up but otherwise ok," Coran said.

"Hey, I thought the Red lion was supposed to be the fastest!" Keith felt his ears drop,

"Space is vast, idiot," he said flatly.

"Keith, is your video feed broken?" that was Pidge.

"Yeah," Keith said.

"How did you manage to survive eight weeks without repairing that?" Hunk was speaking.

"Eight weeks?" Keith said. That means that Druid had him for three.

"That's how long it's been," that was Shiro. Keith was relieved to hear he was ok, but hearing him speak was an even bigger relief.

"Where were you?" that was Allura.

"Running from the Galra," Keith said.

— —

 _The control room of the Castle Ship had all the humanoid residents, except one, gathered around the communications console and there was no image just static._

 _"I'm almost to the Castle," Keith said, and according to the display, he was._

 _"We'll meet you down in the hanger bays," Allura said._

 _"Alright. Keith, out."_

 _"He sounded ok, and not mind controlled," Hunk said. Everyone else looked at him."What?"_

 _"If Keith had been captured by the Galra at all, there probably would have been a huge deal made out of it," Shiro said, "Capturing a Paladin of Voltron would have been a huge victory for the Galra Empire."_

 _"Unless they were plotting something. Keith seemed surprised it had been Eight Weeks as your humans count it," Coran said._

 _"It's possible wherever the Red Lion Crashed initially, Keith was knocked unconscious for a few days and that threw off his count," Pidge said._

 _"Or, he's just really bad at time keeping," Lance said._

— — —

Keith landed Red in the hanger gently before he moved to exit the Lion, but a reflection of a purple face on his helmet made him stop cold. He'd gotten so used to being…like _that_ that he'd forgotten it had even been done to him. Thinking fast, he pulled his armor back on and the helmet, carefully taking his ears into consideration and most of him was covered. The lower half of his face was still somewhat exposed but it would keep most of him covered.

He exited Red only to be tackle-glomped by the others, including Allura and Coran. Pidge had jumped and hugged him around the neck, and their head was mostly covering up his face. He felt safe, for the first time in weeks, but was was scared about how the others would react once they realized he'd been changed.

"Keith, did you not have any way to shave or something?" Pidge asked him. Keith knew they'd feel the fur.

"Keith with a beard? This I've got to see," Shiro said as he let go. The others let go and Keith sighed before he helped Pidge step down.

"I've only been running for five weeks," Keith said as he grabbed hold of his helmet.

"What happened the other three?" Allura asked.

"I was a prisoner," Keith said pulling the helmet off his head, he could feel his ears twitching at the freedom, "A Druid decided it'd be fun to do _this_." He closed his eyes bracing for the yelps of disgust. Shiro's gasp forced Keith to open his eyes. Shiro was pale and trembling.

"They tried doing that to another prisoner when they-," Shiro stopped and shook his head, left arm gripping his right, "The prisoner died." Allura had her hands over her mouth and everyone else was mostly pale, or as pale as they could go in Hunk and Lance's cases, and just staring at Keith. He looked away, he had never felt more like a science experiment than that moment.

"Do you know why they did this?" Coran asked getting closer to Keith.

"I'm not sure, maybe because they could," Keith said with a shrug, "A rebel Galra freed me and destroyed the ship I was on. After that I was one the run. I ran into two other Galra rebels. There is a Resistance, but the one rebel told me that it wasn't well organized because some Druids can read minds."

"Are you feeling ok?" Keith looked back up to see it was Allura who had also joined Coran in checking Keith over.

"I'm ok," Keith said, "I think." Shiro walked closer to Keith and he flinched, his ears drooping. He was shocked whenever his foster brother hugged him. Keith did not expect Shiro to hug him, not with his PTSD. Not with Keith now being one of his triggers.

"You're going to be ok," Shiro said.

"But are you?" Keith said, "I found out something else from the second Rebel I met after I escaped," Keith said as he stepped of the hug and then carefully pulled his dagger off his belt, sheath and all. He held it out for Allura to take.

"Take the wraps off the blade," Keith said quietly. Allura did so and gasped.

"What is that?" Lance asked.

"This is Zarkon's personal family crest," Allura said, "How did you get this?"

"My mother gave it to me. Her father gave it to her," Keith said.

"Your mother?" Hunk said.

"The second Rebel Galra," Keith said, "I was always Half-Galra and didn't know it. She wanted it that way."

"Your mother is of the House of Zarkon," Coran said. Keith nodded.

"How closely related?" That was Allura.

"She's one of his daughters." Keith was waiting for the others to tell him to get lost. What he heard instead was someone laughing.

It was Lance. Everyone was staring at _him_ now.

"Are you ok?" Hunk asked Lance.

"Of course! If anyone's not ok, it's Shiro and Keith. Keith's the Spawn of the Spawn of literal Space Satan!" Lance said as he laughed some more. It turned out to be contagious and soon everyone was laughing.

— —

Keith was in the medbay alone with Coran and Allura,

"According to the pod, you're perfectly healthy for a Galra your age," Coran said, "And it's probably because you were already half-Galra that you survived whereas that other poor fellow Shiro mentioned didn't. Your DNA is also stable, so you won't spontaneously return to being half-Galra. I'm afraid and we cannot reverse the process that Druid used."

"I had already thought this was permanent," Keith said as he fought back a yawn.

"Why don't you rest up now?" Allura said. The Red Paladin nodded before he exited the medbay. The Akteans exchanged looks and waited until they were sure Keith was out of Galra hearing range, especially with all the ambient noise on a space ship.

"How do you _really_ feel about this, Coran?" Allura said.

"The scans showed no Druid tampering in his brain so he's not their puppet and there are no implants either, so he's also not being tracked. It's disconcerting to look at him and see a Galra but he's still Keith," Coran said.

"He was half-Galra before he was changed and served as a Paladin with no problems, but I can't help but feel that his connection to Zarkon's personal family could spell trouble for us down the line," Allura said, "I trust Keith, but Galra are fiercely possessive of family."

— — —

The rest of the Paladins were in the common area.

"So, Keith's a Galra now and everyone's ok with this?" Lance said.

"It's not ideal, but Keith didn't choose to have this done to him anymore than Shiro chose to have that arm," Pidge said as they worked on something on their laptop.

"I stand by what I said earlier. He doesn't seem to be brainwashed." Hunk was working on some gadget because Pidge as asked him to fix it.

"I've known Keith the longest of any of us," Shiro said, "It's not going to be easy but I still trust him."

"What about you?" Hunk said gesturing with a screw driver at Lance.

"Pink or Purple. Mullet or not, Keith's still my rival!" Lance said in an overly dramatic pose.

"Glad to see you care." Lance jumped with a yelp at Keith's sudden appearance. Shiro flinched and the others didn't react.

"Seriously, though, that's the weirdest part about this whole thing: They destroyed the mullet!" Lance said, acting as if he hadn't yelped like a little girl. Hunk looked up.

"Can I—."

"No. You're not petting the ears," Keith said flattening them. Hunk deflated a little before he and Pidge shared an evil look. The Yellow and Green paladins tackled the Red one to the ground and fought off the clawed swipes to touch the fluffy appendages.

"So, soft!" Pidge said.

"Just like petting a fluffy cat!" Hunk said. Lance joined them with a giggle that made Keith growl a little.

"Guys, get off!" Keith said trying to push them off, gently. He also didn't want to admit that felt nice. Shiro laughed and managed to pull Hunk and Lance off Keith and Pidge was gently shoved off a second later. Shiro offered Keith his flesh hand and he took it to get hauled to his feet only for Shiro to scratch one of the ears.

"Shir-o!" Keith complained.

"They're right, it is like petting a fluffy cat," Shiro said. For the first time since Keith had arrived that day, Shiro wasn't fighting off a flash back. The situation would get better in time. Someday.

— —


	5. Infringement

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 5!

 **Summary** : _The Paladins are back together, and that means learning to deal with one another again after separations and changes._

 _Mean while, pirates attack a certain engineer's convoy as they move through space. Those poor, poor, pirates._

* * *

Infringment

In the month since Voltron's paladins were reunited the tally was as thus:

 ** _Allura—One time_**

 ** _Shiro —Once time*_**

 ** _Coran— Two times_**

 ** _Hunk— Two times_**

 ** _Pidge— Three times_**

 ** _Lance—Twelve times_**

What were these tallies of, one might wonder.

" **For the last time, Lance, keep your hands off**!"

"Ouch! Why are you always being a grumpy ca-hey!"

 _ **Lance—Thirteen times.**_

Keith snarled at Lance, as he had, once again, tried to touch Keith's ears without permission. The others learned fairly fast that you did not touch the resident Galra paladin's ears without asking politely first. Nine times out of ten, Keith would flatly tell the asker "No." That tenth time, however, if he was in a good mood, he would relent and allow whomever had just asked to pet his ears.

Hence, the tallies.

Pidge was keeping of how many times they and the rest of the crew had driven the Red Paladin to actually swipe at them with his claws. The only crew member who had gotten away with occasionally scratching Keith's ears was Shiro, but that was due to a bad reaction the one time Keith had scratched him.

— — —

 _It had been tens days since everyone had reunited and Pidge no longer had to for theirself to remember that the Galra entering the room was Keith. It was actually starting to get harder for them to picture Keith as his half-Galra self. Also in that time, Keith had swatted at them, like a cat, twice for trying to pet his ears. In Pidge's defense, they were really, really soft. Hunk had been swatted at once, Coran twice, Lance five times, and even Princess Allura once, but Keith had thought it had been another one of Lance's attempts._

 _When he realized it had been Allura he apologized profusely but she waved it off and mentioned she should have known better than to touch a Galra's ears without asking._

 _— —_

 _Lance was sneaking up on Keith, with another attempt whenever Shiro caught him by the collar._

 _"Lance, knock it off will you?" Shiro said. Lance sighed. Keith relaxed and that was when Shiro struck and Keith swatted at him. The claws connected and Shiro went down._

 _"Shiro? Shiro!" Keith moved to help whenever he realized what had happened. Shiro was pale and shaking, backing away from Keith. The Red Paladin looked stricken before he bolted from the room._

 _Hunk, also in the room, had managed to snap Shiro out of the flashback._

 _— —_

 _Keith didn't come out of his room for three days._

 _— —_

Out of guilt over triggering Shiro, Keith let the Black Paladin get away with messing with his ears. Pidge made another tally in their note book as Lance backed out of claw range. Hunk was laughing at Lance's newest scratch across the back of his hand.

"This had better not scar," Lance complained.

"If it does, it's because you keep invading Keith's personal space," Shiro said as he arrived to see the after math. Keith immediately straightened into a less threatening posture and braced for the ear/fur ruffle Shiro had seemed to get into the habit of doing. It's not that Keith minded it, per say, but he hadn't like being touched before his capture. After….but it seemed to help Shiro deal with the fact Keith was now a Galra. If it helped Shiro, he'd deal with it.

— — —

Lance was singing, off key and in Spanish, as he got himself a snack from the kitchen,

"Cuando me enamoro aveces desespero, cuando me enamoro, cuando menos me lo espero, me enamoro se detiene el tiempo, me viene el alma al cuerpo, sonrio, cuando me enamoro."*

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you're a better pilot than you are a singer," Keith said when he entered the kitchen, his ears against his head.

"I'm still a better singer than you!" Lance said.

"Probably," Keith said with a shrug that sort of said 'I-don't-care.'

"We're rivals, Mullet Mane!" Lance said.

"I don't even have a mullet any more," Keith said as he got himself a glass of water. Silence fell over the kitchen as Lance ate and Keith drank his water.

"What does she look like?" Lance said. Keith blinked at him. "Your mom. Is she furry like you or lizard-y like him?"

"She's like me," Keith said.

"So, do you look like her?" Lance said, "I hope not, because that'd be unfortunate, her looking like you." Keith rolled his eyes before he left the room. He briefly wondered where his mother was, but he was immediately distracted by Lance resuming butchering that song.

— —

"Captain!" Twyla pulled her ship into a sharp roll to avoid disabling shots as she and her convoy were under attack. They were a group of engineers that were constantly in motion maintaining space stations and orbital habitation units, the sizes of small moons, but they also serviced the fleets attached to these Galra settlements. So that meant they were lightly armed and vulnerable to attacks. Piracy was a growing problem in the Galra Empire. Then again, when you spread this far, there are bound to be problems in trying to patrol all of space.

"Status report, Lieutenant!" Twyla snapped as she pulled off a tricky maneuver that caused one of the small pirate fighters to fire upon the main Pirate Ship.

"We lost Harnal's ship and Ilyria and Goleon's ships. I'm almost free, and I'll—."

"No. Get out of here, get to a base and alert the fleet. If these pirates are wise, they'll take me alive," Twyla said.

"Captain—."

"That's an order, all of you. Break free and get out of here, I'll start to draw their fire. There's a reason my ship has bite and yours do not. GO!" Twyla activated her lasers and began to return fire the moment the remaining five ships of her convoy broke free. She charged at the main ship only to pull up at the last second, raking the starboard prow with laser fire. Since her ship was not a proper Galran fighter ship, she did mere surface damage. She could hear her awful brother Lotor now, gloating about his Galaxy Class Vessel. She barely avoided a shot from another of the fighters but it was getting more and more difficult. She took out three of the ships chasing her before she was caught in a tractor beam.

"We intercepted your transmissions, Galra whore. Why would it be wise for us to spare you? You've killed three of my best pilots," it was a gravely voice that made Twyla think he was probably a lizard like species.

"You know, I crashed on this quaint little world once and in their space fleet there is this tradition of the giving of coins. Whomever has the highest coin wins and the lowest one buys the other drinks. If I were to give a coin, only one from Zarkon himself would outrank me," Twyla said.

"You're that important, you chltaza?"

"You are addressing Her Royal Highness Princess Twyla of the House of Zarkon, you fool," Twyla said, "His Ninth Daughter, and incidentally his youngest daughter."

— —

Twyla's ship was tractored in and she exited the craft hands above her head. Her guess had been wrong. He was a large furry large alien with small rounded ears on top of his head and beady black eyes. A lot like the Grizzly Bears of Earth, but his face was flatter and he had a very, very large gun in his clawed hands and his fur was green. A species she hadn't encountered before.

"Check her ship and make sure this chltaza isn't lying to save her hide," he growled. A smaller version of himself, a juvenile perhaps, scurried aboard her ship and came out with her identification chips. Her Royal one and her Military one. The Royal one projected her information, such as age, date of birth, which wife was her mother, and her rank as an Imperial Princess. The Military ID showed her Name, Age, Rank, Ship affiliation (her own vessel called Black Wind), and Job-Class.

"A Princess Engineer. I'm surprised Daddy let you this far out of his sites," the Pirate Captain said.

"My father is currently conquering the universe, I don't think he thought I could possibly be in danger so clearly inside Galra Space," Twyla said, "Usually Pirates don't raid this far in." She stared him down and he looked away first. Ha!Twyla flexed her fingers, which made a light flash on her ship's hull. There were more guns aimed at her but when nothing happened they relaxed.

"How much random do you think she'll fetch, boys?" The Pirate Captain asked his crew.

"Oh I didn't tell you to spare me to ransom me. I'm the youngest of his children and he loves us all the same. It's just we love each other in varying amounts and I'm the baby of my 're the ones you have to worry about. I said it'd be wise to take me alive so that my brothers and sisters didn't atomize you in a slow and painful manner," Twyla said in a bored tone. Her eldest brother, Lotor being the exception to the rule, but her next to oldest brother Sinecline was super protective of her, as were her eight older sisters and six other older brothers, "The nearest colony settlement wasn't far from here and if my crew were booking it at top speed, they arrived and reported my capture to the Empire and this particular sector is my big brother Arlioth's to patrol and protect, and he should be worm holing in right about—."

"Sir! Large inbound Galra cruiser has just appeared out of a worm hole!" Another pirate said. The Captain fired a blast at Twyla only to have her image shimmer and reappear next to him.

"Oh, I forgot, there are holographic projectors on my ship, my bad!" The Real Twyla was in her ship since the light flashed and used her ship's lasers to blast the room. Against an armored ship, her lasers weren't effective. Against living organisms, however…It wasn't pretty. She blasted her way free and limped her ship into tractor range for her brother's Star Crusher class vessel. Once aboard, the Pirate ship's engines were destroyed and a small fleet of boarding shuttles were headed towards the pirate vessel. If the pirates were lucky, they'd be sent to the Gladiatorial arenas and not the Druids.

Twyla didn't count on them being lucky.

— —

Twyla had barely disembarked her ship's ramp whenever a light purple blur appeared and pulled her into a crushing hug. She gasped before he let her go. Arlioth had inherited their Father's height, but his mother's Night heritage, meaning his ears were more batlike than Twyla's were. The light purple he was, Twyla would definitely call lavender.

"You owe me two new ID chips," she said.

"You'll get them on Doom. Father's recalled you to his side. Since you're the only one of us who is not a warrior for the empire, he wishes you to be where he can keep you safe," Arlioth said. Twyla snorted.

"The real reason, big brother," Twyla said.

Arlioth sighed and ran a clawed hand down his face. He sat on her ship's ramp, head in his hands.

"He knows. He knows about your connection to the Red Paladin," Arlioth said, "The Druid who purified his DNA pinged the galaxy wide databases and the Galra genes matched our family's and once Haggar saw there was a hit in the system she checked the match. Why did you leave your child on such a back water world, Baby Sister?"

"When he was born, he didn't look Galra. I thought it would be better to leave him with his alien father," Twyla said.

"I don't know if I can shield you from Father for this. It's not like you're like that traitor who fathered your mother," Arlioth said, "You had no way of knowing your son would become an enemy of the empire." There was some silence before Twyla spoke.

"I'm proud of him. I probably shouldn't be but he lasted longer against our Father than most of our enemies could even dream. He's nothing more than a half-grown cub reared on a primitive world who has barely been a Paladin for any length of time and he took on our Father," Twyla said.

"I'm sort of proud of him too," Arlioth said, "But if he isn't captured and shown his proper place, Father will have no choice but to eliminate him."

"He's been captured once, he can be captured again," Twyla said, "Though, if he's anything like me, it will not be an easy capture." Arlioth's eyes widened.

"But if he is like you, then I know how to get him," he said, "And you can fill me in on this alien male that was good enough to mate you, in case he thinks like him."

"I have a have a gut feeling he is far more like me than Ji-hun for his own good," Twyla said. Ji-hun had been the level-headed one in their relationship. Keith's outbursts and rage were all her.

"What am I thinking, of course he's like you. He took on Father!" Arlioth said smacking his forehead, "What did you name him? Red Paladin can't possibly be his name."

"Keith," Twyla said.

"That's horrible! You have to give him a suitable Galran name," Arlioth said.

"Ji-hun talked me into it because his adoptive father had been named "Keith." I'd have rather called the cub "Kioreth.""

"I'm guessing that's where your dagger went?" Arlioth said.

"Yes," Twyla said.

"You know, you might be the youngest, but you're the only one of us to produce any offspring, at all," Arlioth said standing up. "Your son is the first of his generation in our family."

"I guess he is, isn't he," Twyla said crossing her arms, "Am I the only one of us stupid enough to get pregnant or impregnate another being?" Arlioth shrugged.

"I suppose the rest of us never wanted to have children," he said, "And our sisters all made sure to get their injections before any trips to deep space just in case."

"He was an alien, I thought we were genetically incompatible!" Twyla said.

"Your cub existing suggests otherwise," Arlioth said. Twyla rolled her eyes,

"I am not talking about my sex life with you!"

— —

"Check this out, I managed to hack into a Galra feed without endangering the ship!" Pidge said as they gestured to their laptop which was connected to some drone bits Keith didn't recognize. They must have gotten it while he was separated from the group. Allura who had been with the paladins also joined them in bunching around the laptop.

"That's a lot of kids of Zarkon," Hunk said.

"I thought my family was big," Lance said. In total, Keith had Eight Aunts and Eight Uncles. There were pictures of each of the seventeen children in military uniforms. Keith noticed, with a shudder, two wore the robes of a Druid. He felt himself shaking a little and he felt cold like he had on the—

"Which one's your mother?" Allura asked. Keith was snapped out of his flashback and shakily pointed to her. She was positioned on the far end, they were apparently in age order. Her Engineering uniform standing out in a stark contrast to the others.

"Are you alright, Shiro?" That made Keith look back at Shiro and Coran.

"I'll be ok," Shiro said. Keith could tell Shiro was lying, but didn't press him.

"You know, she's pretty for a Galra." Everyone looked at Lance. "What? Obviously she takes after her mom and Keith takes after his dad. Though, what could she have seen in someone as ugly at Keith's dad-hey!" Keith had "gently" punched Lance. The other paladin was rubbing his now bruised arm with a glare.

"What was that for, Mullet Mane!" Keith growled at him, but Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"Keith, we need him remember? Or we can't form Voltron," Shiro said. Keith crossed his arms but did nothing further to the Blue Paladin.

"Couldn't Allura pilot his lion?" Pidge said after thinking about it for a moment. Everyone stared at them as they thought about it.

"Allura fly the Blue Lion? No way! Blue loves me and only me!" Lance said puffing out his chest.

"Besides, I'm needed to fly the Castle Ship," Allura said waving that notion off.

"See! You guys need me after all!" Lance said smugly.

"On second thought, maybe we should ask Coran if he'd be willing to fill in," Shiro said. Everyone nodded.

"Hey!"

— — — — —

* The song Lance is murdering is "Cuando me enamoro" by Enrique Iglesias featuring Juan Luis Guerra.

Check it out on Youtube. Lance does not do this song justice at all.

Also, joke's on Lance, Keith can sing, but he doesn't want to reveal he's a HUGE K-Pop fan. He knows he would never ever live it down. Shiro knows but has been sworn to secrecy/Keith has equally good dirt on Shiro.

*coughclosetBrittanySpearsandOneDirectionfancough*

— — —

 **MP:** Regular updates for this should be Wednesdays, but school's only just gotten back into session so I can't promise to keep to this.


	6. Infiltration

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 6!

 **Summary** : _While trying to gather more information in hopes of learning more about the fate of the Holts and the Galra in general, Keith ends up having a family reunion of sorts._

 _Arlioth is torn between dragging his nephew off the planet over his shoulder and being impressed with the cub's guts._

* * *

Infiltration

 _"There are whole planets used as depots?" Coran asked._

 _"Yeah. The planet I met my…Mother on was one," Keith said._

 _"If we could find one of these depot planets, preferably one that's more out of the way, I could access the network and find out where my brother and father are without risking the Castle Ship," Pidge said._

 _"It's worth a try," Shiro said after a moment, "And we still have at least one set of Galra armor, and Keith could slip in before giving us the all clear."_

 _"Looks like you have a use after all!" Lance said. Keith rolled his eyes before he looked at Shiro and nodded._

— — — —

 _"We've found a planet that matches the specifications you described," Coran said._

 _"So, are we sending in Keith for this mission or are one of us doing this?" Allura said._

 _"I'll go," Keith said._

 _"If you're certain," Allura said._

— — — —

"Looking good, Keith," Allura said as she straightened a few last pieces.

Keith hated the Galra Armor, because it was Galra but it was set up so that there were slits in the side of the helmet for his ears to twitch freely. His Paladin helmet wasn't too bad, since it had been designed with Alteans in mind, but this was almost perfect.

"The first sign of trouble, you get out of there," Shiro said as Keith carefully tucked his bayard into his belt and then strapped on his dagger.

"Alright," Keith said.

"Here," Pidge said handing him something small, round, and with a button in the middle.

"Press this twice when it's safe for us to enter and it will make this light up green, press it once to let us know you're in trouble," Pidge said, "And it will light up mauve."

"Why not red?" Lance asked.

"Because "mauve" is the accepted universal color of danger," Hunk said without missing a beat. Shiro face palmed as Hunk and Pidge high-fived. Keith was just as lost, but figured it was another in-joke between the duo and moved on tucking the panic/don't panic button into a side pocket.

"Don't forget to salute officers," Shiro said, "They generally don't wear helmets and their armor will look a little different." Keith nodded. The red-tint of the visor actually wasn't too bad. In fact, it helped to lessen the brightness of the room for him. Then again, he _was_ a Galra, so things made for Galra _would_ be better for him.

"Good luck." Allura and Pidge said.

"Knock 'em dead!" Hunk said.

"Don't be a hero!" Lance said.

"Act like you're supposed to be there!" Coran said.

"Be careful," Shiro said. Keith nodded to them before he left out a side entrance. The Castle had made landfall in a forrest clearing and the more carefully he slipped through the forest to avoid leading a trail right to the castle the better. Allura and Coran had given him a compound to spray behind himself as he ran to erase his scent.

— — —

 _"Why couldn't the Galra smell you were not one of them?" Keith asked shortly after everyone had been reunited._

 _"Not all Galra are the born tracker you are. In fact, that is a feature that the Jungle descended Galra, like you, can mostly claim. The other Galra races have better sense of smell than the average human or Altean, but a Jungle Galra can actually track the scents. But there are ways to confuse the nose." she pulled up a screen and pointed to a chemical formula, "This compound would fool even your nose, if used properly," Allura said._

— —

The can ran out of the chemical when Keith was well away from the Castle Ship. The other Paladins would join him via the Green Lion once he gave the all clear. If he gave the danger signal, they would join him with their lions. He exited the forest to see that there were many droids. The smells he got from the area were mostly Galra metal and a few biologics. He slipped in with patrol entering from the forest and no one was the wiser when he pealed off to do his thing.

"You!" Keith froze and turned to see it was a cat eared (Jungle) Galran officer. Keith saluted, hand over the heart like Shiro had told him.

"Sir!" Keith said.

"Name and Rank, soldier!" Name? A proper Galra name. He didn't know any—Wait, he did know _one_.

"Ensign Kioreth, sir!" Keith said.

"Why aren't you at your post?"

"I was headed to it, sir!" Keith said.

"Commander Halroth, I advise you to draw your weapon. That is not an ensign." Keith looked up to see a Galra like Sendak with less fluffy ears fur that was light purple had arrived.

"Prince Arlioth?" Halroth said, turning to the Prince. That was the opening Keith need to press the button and draw his bayard, summoning the blade before he took off down the hall.

"After him! That's the Red Paladin of Voltron!" Arlioth said before he also chased after the cub.

— —

"We have Code Mauve!" Pidge said before the Paladins bolted for their lions, which were already in the large hanger bay instead of their individual bays in case they needed to jump in and go, like they did.

"I wonder how Pidge knew about Code Mauve?" Coran said. Allura shrugged.

— —

Keith slashed a hole into a wall and managed to slice right into a locker room. With images he'd need brain bleach for later, Keith slashed a hole through another another wall into another hallway. He was getting lost in the labyrinth of halls. He sniffed the air and focused on his own scent and that of the forest before he took off down the hall to the left. He ran into droids but they were little match for his bayard's blade and he slashed his way through two of them before more showed up. This could be a problem and he didn't have his shield because he was wearing Galra armor. This was going to hurt.

"Before you try to fight your way out of this mess, you could always surrender, little one." Keith turned to see it was Arlioth with Halroth next to him, and the officer was aiming the weapon at Keith this time. Keith felt something in his mind just before he had to duck debris flying when Red crashed through a wall on her own. The Red Lion roared before Keith scrambled into her mouth and the Red Lion, and her Paladin were out of the base by the skin of their teeth. Rather, by the skin of Keith's teeth.

"I owe you one Red," Keith said. The Lion sent a mental rumble back to her paladin as the other Lions broke off their assault and joined with Keith in beating a quick retreat back to the Castle to get out of dodge.

— —

 _Arlioth was impressed. The Red Lion's capabilities and loyalty to it's Paladin were everything his Father had spoken of in reference to the Black Lion, and then some. Though the family reunion had been brief, it had been memorable._

 _Yet, the name his little nephew had given. "Kioreth." There was only one way for him to have known it, and only one way for her to have told him._

 _Arlioth desperately wanted to be wrong, but he'd learned to trust his gut; it told him that Twyla, his sweet baby sister, was a traitor._

— —

"One of the other kids of Zarkon was there," Keith said once they disembarked their lions.

"Which one?" Coran asked.

"Arlioth," Keith said, "I think. That was the name the other guy called him."

"That's Zarkon's fourth born son and fifth born over all," Coran said as he looked over the previously gathered intel.

"So he had a family reunion, big deal," Lance said.

"It is a big deal that his relatives apparently know about him and are able to make him without even trying," Shiro said calmly.

"Oh," Lance said.

"Let's get some rest for now, Paladins," Allura said, "We'll have to try a different way to get intel."

"There are only sixteen other children of Zarkon, and it's a big universe, so our chances of running into the others are very slim!" Coran said.

"Not slim enough," Keith and Shiro said.

"Which one did you meet?" Allura asked after a moment. Shiro shuddered.

— —

 _"He was in the Haranath Sector?"_

 _"Yes he was. The kid's about as feisty as Twyla was at that age," Arlioth said, "Think like it's her you're going after, and the kid becomes a bit more predictable."_

 _"Yet, you managed to lose him."_

 _"Shut your quiznak, Lotor! He's still the Red Paladin and that Lion of his is just like Father always described the Lions. I was just being brotherly in giving you this advice but I can see you're going to be a alutinue as usual." Arlioth ended the transmission. Lotor walked into the light revealing a mostly Altean looking form, only purple with yellow sclera and red irises around a magenta pupil. From his head flowed long straight white hair._

 _"Red Paladin? Sounds like a challenge. I haven't had one of those since that Champion."_

— —

"He would fight gladiators just for fun? That's just kind of sick," Hunk said.

"And totally not fair! He'd be fresh as a daisy and well fed and would beat up on weaker prisoners!" Lance said.

"How do you think I lost my arm?" Shiro said, "That was him being "merciful" to the Champion."

"Keith, no offense, but your Mom's family is never invited for Thanksgiving, Christmas or really any holiday for that matter," Lance said. Keith, who had slowly been withdrawing into himself as his monstrous uncle was discussed blinked and scowled at Lance,

"Like I was planning on it anyway."

"I had to make sure, who knows what braincells got fried whenever you were all purpled up by that Druid," Lance said with a shrug.


	7. Orbital

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 7!

 **Summary** : _Sneaking into a Galra controlled structure TAKE 2!_

 _This time, Keith **and** Allura are infiltrating a Galran Orbital Habitation Module that's certainly no moon. Will Voltron finally get ahead or will Keith's family continually thwart them?_

 _Arlioth finds himself hot on his nephew's trail across the galaxy._

* * *

Orbital

 _"We're trying this again? Last time—." Lance was cut off by Allura waving a hand._

 _"Last time, we made the mistake of trying for a Galra military outpost. This time we're going for a civilian outpost, where Keith's age won't look odd," Allura said._

 _"It's an Orbital Habitation Module orbiting a Gas Giant planet called Andorran VIII. It's one of eight. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of a military presence in the OHMs but there is a fleet just beyond the adjacent Gas giant called Andorran VII. If we approached from the Gas Giant Andorran IX—."_

 _"The Gas Giant would cover our Worm Hole, and we could have a shuttle make its way to Andorran VIII's OHM's, as you put it, would be preferable but who of us would be going?" Coran said stroking his mustache._

 _"I'm going," Keith said._

 _"You don't know enough about Galra culture to fit in," Allura said._

 _"One of you would probably have to go with him," Shiro said. Everyone turned to look at the Black Paladin. "You've already pointed out his age would look odd to a military establishment, it would even more odd to see an unaccompanied minor running about space without someone taking care of him."_

 _"But he doesn't look like Coran or Allura," Hunk said, "They're not furry and they wouldn't become furry whenever they shifted, right?" The Alteans exchanged looks._

 _"He has a point," Allura said, "but better to have a mismatched family unit than to have Keith wandering around alone."_

— —

"Alright, plug this into any terminal, and I can get into the system," Pidge said offering them a device that Hunk must have had a hand in too: Pidge often forgot niceties like making sure the object was fully sealed at times whereas Hunk always kept things nice when they were finished and even used colored duct-tape-like-stuff he'd found on the ship, to make it look nice on the outside. There were also two of these devices. One for Allura and one for Keith in case they needed to split up or one got destroyed. Allura had changed her clothes to be more like the clothing Keith's mother had given him. A simple black tunic and black pants that went well with her armor's boots. She tucked a blade into one of her boots at Coran's prompting.

"Galra didn't go anywhere unarmed before, and after 10,000 years of conquering, I doubt that's changed," He said. Keith's dagger was strapped onto his belt and his bayard hidden from sight, just in case.

"That symbol covered up?" Allura asked. Keith nodded.

"Alright, we'll be back as soon as possible," Allura said, "Oh. Wait. We need some GAC."

"Why?" Lance said.

"A shuttle just doesn't land at and Orbital Habitation Module for no reason, usually unless their inhabitants of that particular one, it's for trade or fuel reasons," Allura said.

"I have some," Keith said before he ran off and returned with a pouch minutes later.

"Excellent," Allura said.

— —

"How are we going to get away with this?" Keith asked after they disembarked the shuttle. Landing had gone smoothly, but now there were in a more populated area.

"By acting like this is normal," Allura said out the side of her mouth. Walking next to Galra formed Allura, Keith did feel smaller, but she stood out amongst even the Galra who were like that Druid had been. In contrast, Keith could have probably faded into the background if he wanted to, and aside from his size, he wouldn't have stood out at all.

"Where did you take him from?" Allura and Keith blinked at the question an angry Jungle Galra female had snarled at Allura. Keith suddenly realized that his own mother was small for a Galra because this woman was taller than Allura by half a head, and broader.

"I didn't take him from anywhere, he's under my care," Allura said after a few moments.

"Is this cross-breed lying?" the woman asked Keith. Cross-breed? Oh, right. Allura didn't _look_ like a pure Galran.

"No," Keith said, "My mother knows who I'm with."

"Come along, Kioreth, we need to get supplies," Allura said after she brushed off the Gara woman's derisive sniff.

"What was that about?" Keith asked once they were clear.

"Galra are very possessive of their young and protective of younglings in general," Allura said, "You played along quite well."

"I didn't technically lie," Keith said with a shrug. Allura smiled at him.

"Neither did I," she said.

— —

The market sector was chaotic, and filled with more than just Galra. There were at least 20 species present. Though, most other species were either traders or lowly employees of Galra. Allura made sure to drag Keith to at least four different food stands and buy some food with the GAC they had to keep their cover. Keith was carrying the supplies whenever he lost sight of Allura. She must have seen her chance to use Pidge's device. He found a place to sit down in the middle of the massive indoor market. Setting the items he was carrying down let him stretch his arms in relief. He stopped whenever he heard a sniffle. His ear twitched and he looked down and under the bench he was sitting on in front of a fake plant was a very _very_ small Galra child. They had long violet hair, pointy ears that were more like Alluras, yellow eyes, and scent placed the child as female.

Maybe his nose had been good before, and that's why he'd known about Pidge….

He snapped out of his thoughts and crouched down to eye level.

"Hello," he said. The little girl backed away from him, at first, but after a few moments crawled out.

"Where are your parents?" Keith asked. If he, a teenager, wasn't supposed to be on his own by Galra standards, there was no way this little one should be without parents or guardians of some sort. The little galra girl grabbed onto Keith's side and just cried some more. Allura made her way back to Keith.

"I—oh. Hello there," Allura said looking at the little girl.

"I think I can find her parents," Keith said. Allura nodded after tapping her own nose.

"I'll be right here," Allura said. gesturing to the bench.

"Ok, I'm going to find your parents," Keith said to the little Galra girl, who stopped sobbing.

"Promise?" she sniffed. Keith nodded,

"Now hold still," he said as he sniffed her and concentrated on his scent. He picked her up and sniffed the air. It was a poor environment for tracking, but he caught a faint scent like the girl's and followed it through the crowds dodging others and nearly running headlong into some. He stopped whenever he lost the scent all together.

"You there!" Keith turned to see it was a guard. This galra was more lizard like.

"Yes?"

"Where did you find that cub?" he asked.

"Over that direction. I was trying to track her parents," Keith said. The guard shook his head.

"They're over just beyond this point at the Guard Station worried sick over her," he said making a "follow me" gesture at Keith.

— —

"MERRA!" A Galra woman about Allura's size rushed him and pulled the toddler off his hip and showered her with kisses, making the little one giggle. She looked like a grown up version of her daughter. Her husband was a more lizard like Galra like the guard whom Keith had followed to the station.

"My thanks for returning her safely," he said offering a hand to Keith. Keith grasped his wrist like he had his own mother. The Galra man let go with a nod.

"What academy are you looking to go to in the future?" he asked.

"Academy?" Keith said.

"At your age, you need to be thinking about this, but should you need any help at all, let me know and I'll give you a solid recommendation," the Galra said.

"That's not necessary," Keith said.

"Nonsense. You returned my child to me," the man said, "General Golroth is a Galra of his word."

"Thank you," Keith said.

"May I have your name?" it was the General's wife.

"Kioreth," Keith said. At this rate, that was going to become his cover name. The General's eyebrow quirked but he shook his head,

"I guess we can't all have namesakes as amazing as a Princess, like my little treasure," he said smacking Keith lightly on the shoulder.

"I'd better get back," Keith said.

"Of course, you wouldn't want to keep your family waiting," the General said.

"Bye!" Merra said.

— —

"Everything alright?" Allura said.

"We'd better go," Keith said.

"Agreed," Allura said, "Was she happy to find her family?" Keith nodded.

"That's a relief," Allura said before they made it into the lift back to the shuttle levels.

— —

 _"How would I describe the cub who brought my Merra back? Well confident, calm, and clever. He used Merra's scent to try to find us, taking advantage of his heritage," General Golroth said. Arlioth pulled out a hardcopy image and slid it to the General._

 _"Did he look like this?"_

 _"That's him. Your highness, why do you ask?" General Golroth said._

 _"That's not your concern. Thank you for your cooperation General. Should you run into this cub again, capture him if you can. He is also not to be underestimated. Not only is he clever, but he is extremely skilled both as a pilot and a warrior."_

 _"Who is he really, Prince Arlioth?"_

 _"I cannot tell you. Just know that he is to be taken alive at any and all costs. His life is precious to myself, my siblings, and my father."_

* * *

 **MP** : Hello, it's Wednesday again!

Poor Keith can't seem to get away from Arlioth, can he?

I almost named "Golroth" "Gorioth" but decided against it as my spell checker was already correcting emthat/em to "Goliath." -_-

Until next week,

-MP

P.S. I've hidden various Sci-Fi references throughout Lab Rat, see if you can spot some of them.


	8. Reversion

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 8

 **Summary** : _Something's been bugging Lance, and now he's going to do something about it._

 _There's been something bugging someone else too..._

* * *

 **Reversion**

"I can't take it anymore!" Keith turned to see it was Lance.

"What?" Keith asked.

"You look so strange now and I have to fix it!" Lance said dramatically pointing at Keith. Everyone exchanged looks.

"Lance, him being a Galra is not reversible, remember?" Hunk said.

"Not that! Don't you guys think Keith looks strange without his mullet?" Lance said. The other paladins stopped what they were doing for a few moments. Pidge was the first to speak.

"Yeah, actually, but I'm getting used to it," they said.

"I have to agree with Pidge," Hunk said after a moment, "It's just hair."

"I have to agree with Lance," Shiro said before he looked directly at Keith, "You've had that mullet since you were _twelve_."

"It's not like we're going to find a hair stylist in space who would even know _wha_ t a mullet it much less actually cut my hair. In case you've forgotten, most of the universe either hates and/or fears the Galra," Keith said pointing at himself.

"That's where you're wrong! My favorite aunt, who my Mom always had babysit my siblings and I, was a hairdresser. When I got bored, she'd teach me how to style hair and use my siblings for demonstration and practice! If I hadn't wanted to be a pilot like my Mom, I might have become a hairdresser like Tía Alejandra," Lance said.

"It would explain why your hair is always so nice," Hunk said, "Even though the rest of your dorm was always a disaster zone."

"Exact-Hey!"

— —

Keith found himself sitting on a chair in the dining hall with a towel around his shoulders as Lance got a sort of spray bottle thing, a comb, and scissor-like-things ready.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Keith said, "These are pretty sensitive you know." Keith twitched an ear to make a point.

"Just keep those still and they won't get nicked," Lance said before he started with the spray bottle and the comb. It felt sort of nice. Not that Keith would ever at admit that.

"Whatever you're using, it's not doing a good job of moisturizing your hair at all," Lance said.

"That's because technically it's fur. The fur on my head is more like a mane than they rest of my coat," Keith said.

"It's still kind of dry feeling, and we had fluffy cats whose fur was less dry," Lance said. Keith rolled his eyes and forced his ears not to move whenever Lance began trimming the fur around them.

"And done!" Lance said before he picked up a reflective metal tray he'd borrowed from the kitchen. Keith stared at the reflection for several moments. With just that one change, he looked mostly like his preivous-self again. The cut was perfect.

"Can we see? It's perfect!" Hunk said as he entered the room, "Next time I need my hair cut, I'm coming to you!"

"Please make your appointments at least a day in advance," Lance said with a cheesy grin. Pidge was the next one in with Shiro just behind them.

"Looking good!" Shiro said.

"Wow, and here I thought you were bluffing just to mess with Keith," Pidge said.

"I would never lie about my hair dressing skills!" Lance said with a dramatic pose with a deep dramatic voice.

"I nominate Lance as Team Hairdresser, all agreed say "aye,"" Hunk said.

"Aye!" the other three said.

"You really do look more like yourself now," Shiro said messing up Keith's hair right between his ears. Keith pushed the hand away with a smile. Things were starting to get back to normal.

Well, as normal as life could get when you're a Paladin of Voltron.

— —

 _"Who do you owe your allegiance to?" Arlioth said. The form in the chair across the room said in a broken voice._

 _"The Galra Empire."_

 _"Come now, I know you're lying," Arlioth said. He gave a wordless signal and a Druid zapped the prisoner again._

 _"The True Galra Empire." The voice said, "The empire it should be, not the war machine it is."_

 _"Lieutenant Jiore, when did you start corrupting my sister with your ideas?" Arlioth said._

 _"Your sister isn't corrupted," Jiore said looking Arlioth in the eyes, "She's enlightened."_

 _"You understand if my Father finds out you successfully recruited her into your resistance, not only are you dead, but my sister might be as well, but if I can prove she was just being the naive young Galra she is, I might be able to save her," Arlioth said._

 _"Then kill me and tell your Father whatever you like if you think it will save your sister," Jiore said, "Princess Twyla has never been directly involved with us because of her Druid mother. She's only ever given supplies and aid to us. We couldn't trust her to not be a mole." Arlioth smirked,_

 _"You fell for her act beautifully, then," he said before he drew his sword and plunged it through Jiore's neck._

 _— —_

 _"Father, I bring you news from the rebel I interrogated. He was located very low in the network and couldn't tell me the whereabouts of any particular bases but Twyla's initiative paid off, she fool him into trusting her but she was unable to penetrate their ranks any further because she was recognizably your daughter," Arlioth said as he knelt before Zarkon._

 _"Your acting skills are very admirable, but I've known of your sister's traitorous tendencies for a while now. Her confinement to Doom was so that her mother and Haggar could fix that problem. Do not fear, I will not kill my own daughter."_

 _"I'm sorry I lied to you, Father." Zarkon waved it off._

 _"When did you figure out your sister was a traitor?"_

 _"Her offspring tried to infiltrate a Depot planet, and the name he gave was her Grandfather's," Arlioth said, "The only way for him to know it and use it would have been in she met him, and Twyla would have no other reason to meet and talk with her cub and then let him go, unless she were aiding our enemies."_

 _"Your eldest Brother has word of Voltron sightings, join him and if you can get the Red Lion, do so, but the cub is the priority," Zarkon said._

 _"Of course, Father."_

* * *

 **MP** :Hello! I know this one is a bit on the shorter side, but any longer would he been really stretching the plot thin.


	9. Respite

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 9! Thanks for all your reviews so far ^_^

 **Summary** : Voltron has saved the day! Now they have to attend a party.

* * *

 **Respite**

Voltron stood victorious over a freed planet after fighting off the Galra before too much damage could be done to the planet in the ever expanding empire's endless drive to conquer and extract quintessence.

"Very good everyone!" Allura said over the comms. before the paladins let out a near unison "WHOOP." Allura sighed. She _was_ trying to get used to their hu- _Earthling_ ways, but it was hard. It was also hard for her to catch herself whenever she forgot about the Earth raised non-human on their team. Keith was all but back to his previous self from before his transformation. She heard the paladins as they entered the common area. Well, she heard them _long_ before they reached it. It didn't happen as often as it did in the beginning but she was still **done** with the bickering.

"You're just jealous my kick actually _worked_ this time, Fuzz Mullet!"

"The only reason we didn't fall from that was because Hunk compensated for it!"

"Don't drag me into this, guys!"

"Five GAC Lance gets swiped at, _again_?"

"Enough!" Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose with his flesh arm,

"Pidge, please stop betting on this. Hunk, that was good work out there. Lance, Keith is right, Hunk is why we didn't end up falling over. Keith, Lance's maneuver was a good one. I think we can skip our afternoon training session for today. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room."

— —

"I have news!" Coran said whenever he entered the common area a short time later. In that time, the Paladins had changed out of their armor and were playing with handmade cards. Some were colored black on the one side and the others were white. He watched as Pidge drew a black card from a central pile.

"Authorities are unsure whether the man died from the gunshots, excited delirium or _." Keith studied his hand and carefully put a card down as Lance just slammed his choice down and Hunk giggled while placing his into a pile. Pidge shuffled the pile.

"Ok, so "Authorities are unsure whether the man died from the gunshots, excited delirium or" a mayonnaise restaurant? "Authorities are unsure whether the man died from the gunshots, excited delirium or" feeding Christians to Lions. Hunk! "Authorities are unsure whether the man died from the gunshots, excited delirium or" Ebola Virus Outbreak. You guys are awful! Ebola!" Pidge said holding up the white card. Keith smiled and took the card, adding to his already large pile.

"But Christians being eaten by lions!" Lance said. Pidge looked at Hunk with a flat affect.

"You were giggling that much over "a mayonnaise restaurant," really?"

"Sorry to interrupt your Earth game but I have news!" Coran said. The four looked up.

"Hey Coran, didn't hear you come in!" Lance said.

"The leaders of the Planet Zanzibar have invited to attend a celebration they are throwing in our honor! Shiro's already said he'd attend," Coran said, "Though they would prefer we not arrive in full armor."

"One problem, we don't have anything to wear to a party like that," Pidge said.

"Never to fear, this castle was once occupied by hundreds. There are probably some formal amongst the stored clothes. Are you in?" The others exchanged looks and shrugged.

"Let's get this over with," Keith said folding his hand and placing it down.

"What's your secret to winning?" Lance asked.

"I always pick the worst sounding card," Keith said, "Seems to work."

— —

Coran found the stored formal clothing and jumped nearly 3 g'yata in the air whenever he turned around and the Paladins were all there.

"Need a hand, Coran?" Shiro asked as the Altean tugged the first crate loose

"Thank you," Coran said handing a crate off to the Black Paladin who nearly dropped it from its weight. Hunk, Lance, and Keith together caught the next one. Coran dusted off his hands.

"Alright, in here there should be a fairly wide selection for you," he said as he pressed a few dust covered buttons on the side of the first one causing it to spring open revealing a bunch of colorful fabric. Pidge eagerly dove in and and held up certain articles evaluating them before tossing them either to the side or at one of the boys.

"Is this a female Earthling thing?" Corn asked.

"It's more like a Holt thing. Pidge's father and brother had impeccable clothing taste too," Shiro said as he caught the black outfit Pidge had thrown his way.

"Matt was always _so_ much better at this than me," Pidge said frowning at two green colored garments before tossing them both aside only to pull out a green gown. It was just the right size for the smallest paladin and marched the Green Lion perfectly.

— —

Together the paladins made a dashing group, if Coran did say so himself. Lance had been in charge of hair, and while the boys were easily dealt with, Pidge's slightly longer hair was fun for him to style. He had manage to do a braided crown. The outfits Pidge had picked out for the others actually were dress uniforms not too dissimilar to Coran's uniform, but the jackets were different, as well as different colors. Lance's outfit was mostly a darker blue than Coran's, Hunk's was a more muted mustard-gold color, Keith's was a dark marroon color and Shiro's was black. the jack was large enough to fit over his prothesis. Also, for the night, Hunk wasn't wearing his headband. Allura's orders. Allura arrived with her hair elegantly swept up wearing a shimmering white gown.

"Tonight, you represent Voltron, so I expect you all to be on your best behavior," she said. Everyone looked at Lance.

"Why are you—yeah I guess that's fair."

— —

The people of this planet looked mostly human-like but their skin came in a whole rainbow of colors except the same colors as humans or Alteans. Their ears were also extra-long and pointy. Shiro led the others and could tell Keith was nervous. The Red Paladin had never been good in crowds. This was worse than usual. They were announced with some alien language, but thanks to their connections to their lions, they understood every word. Oh. Shiro had lost sight of Keith. He needed to find his brother fast.

— —

Keith could hear the whispers the moment he stepped into the hall after being announced as "Keith Kogane, Red Paladin of Voltron." The others had been announced as "Akela "Hunk Garret/Katie "Pidge" Holt/ Lance Ramirez-McClain/Takashi "Shrio" Shirogane **of Earth**." His name was bare of that epithet.

"Where could this next—A _Galra cub_? Were these last Alteans so desperate they recruited _him_?"

" _Why is he so far from his parents_?"

" _Two children? This is the great hope of the universe and there are two children?"_

 _"Galra filth!"_

Keith waited until the presentation was over and the others began to mingle. The hall felt oppressive. So, he took off and found himself on a balcony overlooking the city. Across the city, beyond its Eastern Edge, sat the Castle of Lions. He missed Red. He'd prefer to be in her cockpit right now than be at this party.

" ** _What are you doing out here, Galra_**?" Keith flinched at the tone and looked to see who had sneaked up on him whenever he was staring at the Castle. It was a man with bright pink skin, though it looked a little purple in the moonlight even with his night vision.

"I was just getting some air," Keith said.

"Since when is that a crime?" Keith looked up to see the others were standing behind the now very nervous pink man. Shiro had his arms crossed and the others looked casual standing with their leader.

"I'm so sorry to disturb all of you!" he said before he dashed out. Keith gave the others a bittersweet smile.

"Thanks," he said.

"Only I'm allowed to pick on you, Mullet Mane," Lance said crossing his arms. Shiro just walked over and placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"The food is worse than Coran's," Hunk said. Everyone looked at the Yellow paladin, "It's pink goop and somehow it's worse than green goop!"

"Too bad there aren't any Space MickyD's around," Pidge said.

"MickyD's?" Coran asked whenever he and Allura joined the paladins.

"It's a fast food restaurant that sells delicious but unhealthy food," Shiro said, "Oh, fast-food is convenience food prepared quickly for people who don't have time to cook."

"That sounds horrific!" Coran said in terror.

"Wait until he sees it," Keith said.

"We're making him try a BigMac when we get to Earth," Lance said.

"Agreed!" the others said.

"Can you imagine his face?" Pidge asked. Everyone because laughing at the image while Coran just sputtered. Even Allura as laughing at her advisor over junk food. Keith felt better. It was nice to have a nice relaxed moment like this.

* * *

 **MP** :It's Wednesday!

I gave Hunk the given name of "Akela" because I liked it. "Hunk" seems like a nickname he picked up at the Garrison. I also like to headcanon Hunk as being of Native Hawaiian descent because he looks it and it's an underrepresented group in fiction.  
Also, I really like the idea of Latino Lace, so that's a thing in this universe, if you couldn't tell already.

I wrote this as nothing but slightly angsty fluff because I like it whenever there's a reason for Keith and the others to smile.


	10. Reclamation

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 10! Thanks for all your reviews ^_^

 **Summary** :

 _neu·tral·i·ty_

 _/n(y)o͞oˈtralədē/_

 _noun_  
 _ **state of not supporting or helping either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartiality.  
"during the war, Switzerland maintained its neutrality"**_  
 _2 .absence of decided views, expression, or strong feeling._  
 _"the clinical neutrality of the description"_  
 _3\. the condition of being chemically or electrically neutral._

 _For Team Voltron, a neutral planet seemed like a godsend. No worries about being attacked by the natives for any reason at all._

 _However, Neutrality also applies to **others** in the universe at large._

* * *

 **Reclamation**

 _"Ah, Larshak VIII! This planet is the most neutral planet in the Cosmos. It would appear that even in the midst of Zarkon conquering everything, they've maintained this neutrality," Coran said as he looked at the display._

 _"It's the Switzerland of Space!" Lance said._

 _"What's a Switzerland?" Allura asked._

 _"On Earth it's a country that never gets involved," Pidge said._

 _"Yes, very much so. The planet also has a firm, "no weapons unless you're the city guard or it's merely ornamental rule, so you'll have to leave your bayards behind or face a stint in a holding cell. Don't forget that since we don't have and GAC we cannot bail anyone out," Coran said._

 _"Says the one we had to bail out last time," Lance said._

 _"So, they won't freak out over me being Galra?" Keith said._

 _"They shouldn't," Allura said, "But don't stray too far from us."_

 _— — —_

 _"Intelligence has indicated that the Castle of Lions is likely to attempt to use Neutral Planets or Planets that were once neutral as their landing sites for refueling and relaxation. It would be on one of those stops that the Paladins will be at their most vulnerable since they will have to leave the ship and their lions behind," Arlioth said to Lotor who stared out into space._

 _"I need you to be my distraction while I close in on the cub. Merra, you will try to get to their landing craft and attempt to get in. I am not expecting you to succeed but I am expecting you to be a secondary distraction for the rest of the Paladins," Lotor said without looking at either of his siblings._

 _"A simple "Please" would be nice, Brother, but I know your manners have always been lacking," Merra said._

 _"We've all known that for years, wouldn't you agree, Lotor?" Everyone turned to see Sincline slink into view. The other half-Altean child of Zarkon looked very much like his older brother, albeit an inch or two shorter and his hair was kept cropped closer to his head revealing his more Galra-like fin-ears. One of two Spy-masters in the siblings and one of three spies over all._

 _"Do you have to act like him?" Merra asked._

 _"No, but it's fun to be a garlina's hind-quarters," Sincline said, "Voltron is headed for Larshak VIII."_

 _"Blasted Larshakian Neutrality," Arlioth said._

 _"It's perfect. It's a well populated planet, only ornamental weapons are allowed, and that means the Cub will likely only have the Crest Blade on him and not his bayard," Sincline said._

 _"What about Lotor's schemes?" Merra said._

 _"They can still work with some tweaking, wouldn't you agree, Big Brother?" Sincline said. Lotor tuned to face his only full-blooded sibling._

 _"What else have you to say? You could have sent and underling with this information, so why come here yourself?" Lotor said. Sinecline smirked,_

 _"You_ ** _also_** _need to be a distraction."_

— —

Keith stepped off the ramp onto the platform next to the docking bay for the shuttle and looked around. Coran had decided to stay aboard the Castle as it settled into an orbit with other craft that were too large for this port city. There were literally hundreds of different types of alien life forms. Even as a Galra, Keith didn't stand out all that much.

"That dagger better be ceremonial." Keith turned to see the speaker was a tall orange humanoid salamander alien wearing a dark gray uniform.

"It is. It's a crest-blade," Keith said. The Salamander narrowed its eyes at Keith and sniffed him.

"Just remember your empire has no power here, Galra," it sneered. Keith couldn't respond. It wasn't his empire….it was his—

"Lance, can you not hit on an alien for two minutes?" Keith looked to see Lance had a red mark on his face.

"Come on, Pidge, they were pretty!" Lance said, "And that's what I'm about!"

"We need to keep together. Keith! Keep up!" Shiro said as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his flesh left hand. His Galra metal arm was mostly overlooked because it was a prosthesis. The many buildings were interesting and colorful to the point of being nearly painful for the Galra Paladin's eyes at times. He was distracted by something as they stopped at a food stall. There was a whole stand full of metal blades just next to it. He looked a few over and from the smell, most of it was Galra metal but there was one in the center that was the same metal as his Crest Blade. Iyurian Metal. It was the only one without a price on it, because it was priceless. The Merchant was—Keith stopped dead. They were Iyurian.

— — —

 _"Daddy, who's that?" A small chubby hand pointed at a portrait of a beautiful woman with black-blue hair and violet eyes._

 _"That's a picture of your Grammy. She was very special, just like you," Keith's father said as he reached to ruffle Keith's hair._

— —

"That blade is not for sale, Galra," the Iyurian said. It was a male Iyurian with nearly blue hair and violet eyes like Keith used to have.

"S-Sorry," Keith said as he backed away from the stand. The others were still ordering food. That's when he felt it. A hand on his back. He then realized someone had just stolen his Crest Blade! It was a smaller alien with dark brown skin, white hair, and pupiless blue eyes and short pointy ears and it stole the dagger he'd had since before he could remember. He saw red.

"Hey!" He charged off after the short alien using his own scent on the blade to track the strange creature through the thick crowds. He could heard Shiro cursing somewhere behind him as he took off after Keith. Keith kept on the little bugger, but they were damn fast.

— —

"Hey!" Shiro looked over to see Keith chasing some smaller alien who had Keith's dagger.

"Quiznak! I'll be right back guys, don't leave from this spot," Shiro said before he took off. Allura sighed as she held the take out box of the food they'd ordered.

"These are good! Can we get more of these?" Hunk asked holding up a half-eaten kabob of some sort of alien meat and vegetables.

"We're going to need more of it once they get back," Allura said.

"I'm going after them too!" Lance said. Pidge, Allura, and Hunk just exchanged looks before shrugging.

— —

Shiro had just about caught up to Keith whenever he saw someone who made him stop from the terror of a flash-back of losing his flesh right arm. Lotor. Zarkon's Eldest and one of Keith's Uncles. _The one who took his arm._

"Well, Well, Well, if it isn't the Champion," Lotor drawled.

"If it isn't some guy who sounds like he's channeling the Goblin King!" Shiro snapped out of his trauma induced panic attack to see Lance had followed him. Lance who had just insulted one of the best warriors of the **_entire_** Galra Empire by comparing him to David Bowie. Except, an Earthling Pop-culture reference went over as well with this Uncle as it would with their resident Galra.

"The What King?" Lotor asked. If Shiro hadn't been so terrified for Lance, he'd have laughed at how _right_ Lance's jab was. However, there wasn't time for that.

"Lance, not a good time," Shiro said.

"You're right, we have bad guy butt to kick!" Lance said.

"Oh, eager to face me, are you?" Lotor said, "And I thought impulsiveness was the Red Paladin's domain."

— —

The others followed the crowd of stunned aliens to try to track down Shiro, Lance, and Keith whenever Hunk dropped his kabob.

"One of the Thanksgiving-Non-Invitees spotted!" he said. Allura and Pidge turned to see Arlioth and his men.

"It's Prince Arlioth. We have to find the others and get off world now!" Allura said.

"How?" Pidge asked. Allura closed her eyes and pointed to her left and they bolted after her.

"What did you do?" Hunk asked as he grabbed Pidge and carried them under his arm as they barreled through the throngs of aliens.

"Your Quintessences are somewhat linked to your lions. I just focused on Lance's because his is the most like his lion," Allura said.

"They're following us!" Pidge said after they looked behind.

"Quiznak!" Hunk said.

— —

Shiro and Lance were losing to the unarmed Galra Prince, badly. It was very humbling for Lance to see the nearly unstoppable Shiro being taken down so easily by Prince Lotor and downright embarrassing for his own efforts which boiled down to dirty fighting and badly executed moves imitated from his favorite luchadores mixed in with the Garrison hand-to-hand. Now he was throwing some sort of weird alien fruit at Lotor in the hopes of distracting him so Shiro could do _something_. They smelled like oranges, sort of and were shaped like really large plums. One must have been over-ripe because it splatted puce colored juiced across the prince's face and he turned towards Lance with a nearly murderous look in his eyes. His face began to swell and Shiro took it as the opportunity to get up and drag Lance behind him.

"Only you could somehow find the one thing Prince Lotor is deathly allergic to and use it in a fight!" Shiro said as he dragged the Blue Paladin behind him.

"Just lucky, I guess!" Lance said, "What is this stuff anyway?" Lance still had one of the plum like fruits in his other hand and wasn't planning on letting it go anytime soon.

— —

Keith caught up to the little alien who turned around suddenly and Keith found himself surrounded by several large Galra soldiers in armor. They closed ranks behind him completely trapping the young paladin. As for the thief, they tossed Keith his dagger before they just changed before his very eyes, growing taller and more purple. He knew that image. How did he not smell it-oh quiznak.

"Ordinarily, I'd rather not have to resort to such tactics, but desperate times, nephew," he said as he removed the contacts revealing eyes that were mostly like an Altean, but the sclera were yellow. Keith snarled at him. He might have been out numbered, but he was not going down without a fight. Before he could move, there was a jab to the back of his neck and the world began to spin. The last thing he saw was a flash of white mane and nothing more.

— —

 _Zaerif felt slightly bad for using the sedative on his nephew but the cub's body language meant he was not going to come quietly._

 _"Prince Sinecline, Prince Zaerif, it's Prince Lotor. He was exposed to an Iyurian Plum!" A soldier said bringing the nearly anaphylactic demi-Galra with them. Zaerif dug through his hip pouch and pulled out a syringe and jabbed it into his eldest brother's neck, and the swelling started to go down immediately. Lotor took gasping breaths._

 _"_ ** _When I get my hands on that human, I will rend it limb from limb_** _!" he snarled._

 _"We have our objective, it's time to leave," Sinecline said as he crouched down to pick up Keith, carrying him like a small child. Then again, to the Galra, this was very much a child. He glanced back to see Zaerif helping Lotor walk._

— —

Lance and Shiro arrived to see the Galra contingent leaving, and between the bodies they could see—

"Keith!" Lance said but Shiro held him down.

"We're outnumbered, we need to regroup and find the others!" Shiro hissed.

"But Keith—." Lance said.

"Will be alright. They have no reason to kill him," Shiro said.

"Don't you care at all?" Lance asked.

"Of course I care! He's my brother!" Shiro said, "But I don't want him to be guilty because I went after him without a plan."

"Guys, we need to get off planet!" Hunk said as he, Allura, and Pidge arrived.

"We managed to shake him, but Prince Arlioth is on this planet. We need to find Keith and go."

"They have him," Shiro said, "The Galra have captured Keith."

"We'll have to get him back, then," Allura said.

— —

 _Merra inspected the cub from outside the cyrotube he'd been sealed in for the duration of the trip back to Doom._

 _"Are you sure Malior is up to this?" Merra turned to see Lotor had joined her._

 _"He fixed our dear Baby Sister well enough. Her offspring should be no problem," Merra said._

 _"He all but begged her mother and Haggar to be the one to cleanse her. Perhaps he felt guilty for not instilling more loyalty in her," Lotor said._

 _"Maybe because he's her big brother and he cared about her that he wanted to be the one to personally make sure she would never be corrupted again and maybe the fact he's Haggar's prodigy is why he asked to do this," Merra said, "Or maybe you're just too much of a arluntinas to understand that."_

 _"This cub is not worth all this effort," Lotor snarled._

" _That's for our Father to decide Lotor. Not you," Merra said jabbing her oldest brother in the chest._

* * *

 **MP** : Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Whatever shall Team Voltron do now?


	11. Blank

**MP** : Enjoy Chapter 11! Please keep the reviews coming. They mean a lot to me.

 **Summary:**

 _Keith is facing his greatest identity crisis yet._  
 _\- -_

 _Malior had handled his baby sister's loyalty problems. Now, he had to take on the task of overwriting the loyalties of the Paladin now infamous for having the guts to challenge Zarkon directly without shattering his nephew's mind. It would be difficult._

 _He's always enjoyed a challenge._

* * *

 **Blank**

 _Merra observed the battle droids as they unloaded the capsule containing her unconscious nephew into a secured cell meant for high profile prisoners. In the heart of the Galra Empire, lacking the ability to form Voltron, there would be no rescue for the Red Paladin on the part of his teammates._

 _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

 _Zaerif made sure that the medicine keeping his nephew under was going to hold before he knelt next to his sister and brothers. Their Father was approaching. Zarkon arrived in the room._

 _"Rise." Merra, Zaerif, Sincline, and Arlioth did as they were bade. Lotor had entered the room with Zarkon, albeit a step behind Lotor walked Malior, one of two Druid siblings._

 _Zarkon drew near the bed they had place the unconscious Paladin on and studied him for a good long while._

 _"Malior, I trust you can make him into a loyal subject to the Empire?" Zarkon said._

 _"Of course, Father. Twyla is showing remarkable improvement after I purged that corruption from her mind," Mailor said bowing his head, his white hair swished forwards nearly covering his red Druid markings and Purple-gray skin._

 _"I will leave you to it. My other children, walk with me and tell me of how you brought this wayward cub to where he belongs. Lotor has given me his report, but I would like to hear yours as well," Zarkon said._

 _"Of course, Father," the others said in unison. Mailor was left alone in the room. He pressed a button and droids entered with supplies. This was going to take a while. He could sense it._

— — _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

Keith opened his eyes and blinked at the bright sunlight. The smells made him look around in shock. He was home! Wait, he was home? That couldn't be right, could it? His hover bike was still parked next to the house. He entered the door and found the room looked as it had the day before, before what, exactly? He checked his table for anything that could give him a clue as to what was going on. He shook his head before he walked into the bathroom and used the sink to splash cold water onto his face to try to think more clearly. He caught his reflection and jumped. There was a purple-cat person in the mirror instead of his face. Wait. Keith pulled his dagger off his belt and wrapped the hilt revealing the crest.

Zarkon's Family Crest.

 **His** Family Crest. Keith dropped the dagger and grabbed his head, claws prickling into his scalp. Claws? He looked down at his hands and they were purple. He screamed as memories force themselves to the forefront of his mind.

 _The Druid. The Change. His escape. Adapting to being Galra. Voltron. Voltron!_ The world around him fell apart and he heard clapping. He turned and the memories of the Druid threatened to overwhelm him again.

"I'd take offense to that, if she hadn't done all that to you. She was very lucky that traitor killed her and her crew so mercifully. Otherwise, Merra and Zaerif would have taken her a part molecule by molecule," the Druid male said, "I'm being rude, though. I'm your Uncle Malior."

"What's going on?" Keith snarled. The place they were in couldn't possibly exist.

"Temper, temper. Then again, you _do_ seem to take after both my baby sister and our Father quite a bit in that regard," Malior said.

" ** _I am nothing like that monster_**!" Keith yelled. Mailer chuckled.

"How creative. Surely you could do better than that, little one!" Keith charged at the Druid, who casually side stepped the attack and with a kick knocked Keith onto his face and stomped down to pin him. Keith thrashed but couldn't fight the pressure Malior was somehow exerting.

"How predictable. Now what to do with you? You seem to have accepted your form even on this level, which I was not expecting, but how to proceed. Your quintessence sensitivity is proving to be quite troublesome. Any less, and you'd have never overcome that first illusion, and this would have been easy. Of course, I doubted this would be easy from your sheer force of will alone. Will and Quintessence Sensitivity? Trying to give you a false memory would spell disaster for all involved. Your own will power would make shreds of those in a lunar cycle or less. If not, then you'd end up with your mental state deteriorating. Coupled with your high level of sensitivity and madness would be inevitable. I refuse to shatter your mind, so that means trying to give you loyalty through that method is out of the question."

"Why do you care?" Keith asked.

"Because you're family. Ah, I can sense you're surprised by this even though you've seen several occasions on which Galra have shown their families matter greatly to them. It's right here, in your mind. So, if I can't brainwash you or overwrite your memories, I can do something that you might be able to undo on your own someday, if you're lucky. I'm just going to lock these memories away."

"No!" Keith managed to get free of Malior's foot and stood facing him.

"Did I say I was erasing them?" he said.

"You can't be trusted," Keith said.

"Why not?"

"You're a Druid, you twist things to be what they're not," Keith said.

"Some Druids do. If you have been raised in the Empire, you would have been one of us too," Malior said.

"Never!" Keith said.

"To be honest, I don't blame my baby sister for leaving you on that planet. My siblings wouldn't have cared you were a cross-breed as Sinecline and Lotor are half-Altean, and Father wouldn't have cared much either. Don't give me that look. Like I said, he fathered two half-breeds himself. It would not have been a fun life for you outside our family," Malior said with a shrug, "But now that butcher did what she did, things should prove a little easier to deal with."

"You say this as if you wouldn't have done this to me yourself," Keith sneered.

"If you had asked me, I would have, but I'm not one for sloppy work. It's a miracle that there were only minor flaws in your genome," Malior said, "Had you been happy in your other form, I wouldn't have done anything against your will unless Father ordered it. Chances are, he might have, but we're not here to speak about hypotheticals. I'm here to lock your memories away so that I don't have to erase them. After all, you're the Red Paladin. Voltron is going to need you back and they're going to need you to have your memories."

"You're a rebel too?" Keith said in shock. Malior laughed at the look on Keith's face.

"You really think that none of us object to what our Father is doing aside from your mother?" Malior said with a smirk, "I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt. Oh, and as a nice added bonus I'm going to just give you the Galra language."

"How are you going to do that?" Keith asked.

"I'm going to download that knowledge to you first and then lock everything else that isn't that knowledge away." Malior placed a hand to the ground before everything erupted into bright light and pain.

— — _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

 _Malior staggered back from the bed that held his nephew and covered his ears. The Red Paladin was screaming and thrashing. His eyes opened and looked at the room blankly before he was unconscious once more._

 _"Was that supposed to happen, baby brother?" Malior turned to see Sinecline was leaning against the door frame._

 _"His mind was resistant to me. His sensitivity made it nearly impossible to alter anything and then his will threw me out. Malior concentrated and saw that everything looked perfectly blank, "He wiped his own memories in the struggle."_

 _"That was always a possible outcome." Malior bowed his head to Haggar as she entered the room, "I see that you managed to at least give him our language before he pushed you out."_

 _"Of course," Malior said, "Lady Haggar, would you assist me in fixing the mistakes that amateur made whenever she purified this cub?"_

 _"I would have been insulted if you hadn't picked up on them," Haggar said._

— — — _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

A pair of yellow eyes opened and recognized nothing around them. The room, was huge and very nicely furnished and the scents detected indicated that this was a place the owner spent a lot of time in. That owner being _him_. He sat up and saw a form sleeping next to his bed whose scent was also all over this room and smelled like him but _not_ indicating that this was a parent. Mother. She stirred and grabbed him into a hug.

"Kioreth!" she said happily hugging him. Once she let go she looked into his eyes and her face fell. Was he "Kioreth?" Seemed like it. The name felt almost right but there was something…. _missing_.

"I'm sorry," he said looking down at his fingers.

"With the way your ship crashed, we're lucky you're alive," she said sadly, "I was warned this might happen, but I wasn't ready for it."

"Ship?" Kioreth said looking back up. Flying? Him? Flying seemed right.

"You're already an expert pilot even as a cadet," she said with a watery smile, "Top of your class."

"How did I crash?" Kioreth asked rubbing his head.

"Solar flare. You're very lucky to be alive right now." Kioreth looked up at the source of the voice and saw his Mother bowing her head to him. Though this larger galra didn't look much like Kioreth or his Mother, his scent also indicated they were related.

"Father, he doesn't remember anything," Mother said sadly. Father to his Mother but that made this new person—

"I see. I suppose I'll have to introduce myself to my own grandson. I'm Zarkon, ruler of the Galra Empire. Lord Zarkon to everyone else, but to you I've always been Grandfather."

— — — _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_ _— —_

 _That night, Twyla and Malior sat in her private quarters sharing a bottle of Andorian Whiskey. The small table they sat at was in a corner of her sitting area and the shot glasses were made of some sort of purple crystal._

 _"Everyone believes that you've completely brainwashed me?" Twyla asked throwing back a shot._

 _"This is me we're talking about here," Malior said with a snort, "I gave everyone a download of some false memories to play along with this charade, the only person without any memories, fake or not, is Kioreth."_

 _"Are his memories truly gone?" Twyla asked. Malior threw a shot back and shook his head._

 _"Locked away," he said. Twyla let out a sigh of relief._

 _"Of all of my elder siblings, I'd have never pegged_ ** _you_** _as a rebel," Twyla said._

 _"That's the point of a_ ** _successful_** _operative," Malior said as he poured them two new shots. Twyla glared at him before she grabbed her shot and tossed it back gesturing for another. Mailor complied after drinking his own shot._

 _"Now what?" she asked._

 _"We all play our parts," Malior said, "If we're lucky, after a while, Father will just magnanimously promote his own grandson to official pilot status, despite his young age, and have him flying for Arlioth or Merla and then Voltron will do the rest for us."_

* * *

 **MP** : It's Wednesday again!

This installment was hard to write. I had to redraft it and even then I ended up rewriting sections of it.


	12. Kioreth

**MP** : Here's Chapter 12! Please keep the reviews coming. They mean a lot to me.

 **Summary:**

 _An ordinary day in the lives of the House of Zarkon as their youngest member adjusts to life after an "accident" caused amnesia._

 _Kioreth thinks his family is nuts, but they mean well._

 _Voltron searches for their missing piece and end up finding someone else instead._

* * *

 **Kioreth**

Kioreth stared at his reflection in the mirror in his bathroom. The fluffy light violet, nearly white mane, the dark violet fur, and twitchy ears, still didn't seem like his proper reflection. Then again, some of his mane had been cut off to even it out after his crash. He'd been shown the wreckage that remained of his ship and it seemed nearly impossible that he survived with only some amnesia. Yet, what would his whole family gain from lying to him about that? He pulled on his cadet uniform and for some reason wished it was red. Had red been his favorite color? There was a fair amount of red in his room. He wasn't even sure why he was wearing the uniform. He wasn't going back to the academy any time soon. Maybe it was out of a routine he was sort of remembering. He exited his bathroom into the main part of his room before exiting into the hallway.

Though this was the private residence wing of the House of Zarkon, servant-bots were often zipping around taking care of housekeeping tasks. Kioreth followed the smell of food to the private dining room only his immediate family could use. His mother was already there finishing her Caf and sliding her emptied plate for a serving bot the take. His Uncle Arlioth was barely visible behind the huge pile of eggs and meats he'd taken from the serving platters.

"I'll be back in two weeks, Ki'eth," she said kissing him between the ears, "I have to do maintenance on the orbital habitation stations' thrusters. I'll contact you later tonight." Kioreth hugged her briefly before she left. It still felt weird whenever she would do that and use what she told him was his nickname whenever he had been smaller. It was nice, though. He took a more moderate portion of meats and eggs and a glass of Andarli juice before digging in.

"There better be some Caf left, Arli." That was Aunt Merra stalking in.

"Of course there is. No one wants to deal with you until you've had three pots of it," Arlioth said sliding her the mostly full pot.

"Ki'eth, you won't be going to tutoring today, instead you'll be hitting the flight simulators," Zaerif said as he entered and ruffled Kioreth's hair. Kioreth nodded as he finished the food on his plate. Flying, even in a simulator, sounded more fun than history lessons.

"You look happy. Glad to see that hasn't changed," Merra said after just deciding to drink directly from the pot.

"Aunt Merra, that's gross," Kioreth said as he refilled his plate for seconds, and poured another glass of juice.

"That hasn't changed either," Arlioth said. Merra rolled her eyes,

"Bite me, Arli!"

"Not in front of the cub!" Zaerif said.

"Twyla's not here and he heard worse at the academy," Merra said rolling her eyes.

Kioreth tuned the arguments between his aunt and uncles out. This, he had figured out, was normal if more than two of them were eating breakfast together.

For some reason, he had the oddest feeling that green goop and a food fight had been a thing once, but there was no way his family would have ever eaten something like that. A food fight on the other hand, that was very, very likely.

— — —

"Nothing?" Shiro said.

"Not exactly. So far, nothing on Keith, but I think we may have finally found Matt and Samuel Holt," Allura said.

"It's on the edge of a territory so, the military presence will be as such that we wouldn't even need to form Voltron," Coran said, "It's an ideal place to pull this off."

"What are we waiting for?" Pidge said.

"It's almost too good to be true," Shiro said after a few moments.

"Yeah, I have to agree. Why would they just move them out there?" Lance said. Everyone turned to look at Lance. "What?"

"We'll have to proceed with caution, but what else is new," Shiro said.

"Maybe that's where the Hotls were this whole time and they weren't moved at all, we just finally found them," Hunks said.

"That's also very possible," Allura said.

— —

The mission was a success and Pidge had captured Rover 2.0 and downloaded and translated a lot of data for Rover 2.0 to sort through afterwards. Matt and Sam would not stop hugging them.

The next day Pidge was sorting through the files and their eyes went wide.

"Guys! I found something!" Everyone in the common area joined them and they pointed a finger at something.

"What is "Kioreth?" And why are you pointing at it?" Hunk asked.

"Keep reading, he's identified as the grandson of Zarkon," Pidge said, "And Zarkon only has one grandson."

"Keith!" the others said in unison.

"Why are they calling him that name, then?" Lance said.

"They've either brainwashed your friend or took away his memories," Sam Holt said.

"Druids can do all sorts of things," Matt said with a shudder.

"We have to find out more," Shiro said.

"He's a member of the royal family, his information beyond his existence being confirmed is going to be hard to find," Matt said.

"I wouldn't underestimate your little sister, dude," Hunk said.

— — —

Perfect score in the simulator. Kiroeth was pleased by it but there was this feeling he'd never used that type before. It had felt off for other reasons too….

He was distracted by a movement out of the corner of his eye. It was a female Night Galra approaching him, she was in uniform but it was strained around her middle. She was expecting a cub.

"Lt. Mora," she said saluting him, "Your Uncle, Prince Sincline, wishes to speak with you." Kioreth politely saluted back in thanks before rushing off to find his Uncle's office.

— —

Officially, Sinecline's role was that of "Quarter Master" but Kioreth knew that his Uncle was actually the head of several intelligence organizations within the empire. His unofficial title was "Spy Master."

"Uncle?" Kioreth asked as he slipped into the office. It looked plain and there was even some paperwork a Quarter Master might have strewn about.

"There you are! Sit," Sinecline said gesturing to a cushy chair he had in front of his desk. It matched the equally squishy chair he had behind it. Kioreth said on it and just stared at his most eccentric Uncle.

"I saw that you made your mark on the new Simulators," Sinecline said. Kioreth nodded.

"I need you to tell me everything you thought about the simulators and if you felt like you were being watched at all," Sinecline looked down at reports. "We have reasons to believe there are infiltrators in the heart of the empire who compromised that particular brand of simulator and if they can gather data on how we fly, they can severely cripple us in battle."

"Uncle?" Kioreth said, "Why ask me? Why not have a real spy use one of these?"

"Because most Quintessence Sensitives of your level are Druids and not spies," Sinecline said. Kiroeth blinked. That was certainly a reason.

"There was something off about the simulator but I don't know what it was," he said.

"Without further training, that's probably the best answer you could have given me. Zaerif, get in the simulator yourself this time!" Sinecline said. Kioreth turned to see his Uncle Zaerif had been there the whole time.

"I just wanted to give the cub a chance at doing something other than have tutoring all day long," Zaerif said with a shrug. He messed with the fur between Kioreth's ears before he left.

"Zaerif's not wrong. You do need chances to do more than be bored to tears in tutoring. I'll speak to Father about perhaps getting you more practical exercises to do. I promise nothing," Sinecline said, "But, Malior and Arriora have been pushing for giving you some rudimentary Druid training to see if you have more talent than Zaerif or Twyla did. The rest of us have been pushing for more hands on training too, well I know you wouldn't do well with espionage." Kioreth shrugged.

"You have the rest of the afternoon off because those sims are likely compromised. If you wish to go to town, take a body guard-don't give me that look, cub you look just like your mother when you do that. You're a member of the Imperial Royal Family, and you'd be an excellent target for any enemies of the empire," Sinecline said. Kioreth rolled his eyes.

"I'm not helpless," he said.

"No, you're not. You are reckless!" Sinecline said, "Please, take a guard if you go into the city. Your mother would murder me if anything happened to you and she doesn't have any concept of mercy."

— —

"What did you find?" Shiro asked as Pidge hacked their way into a captured Galra probe and through that into the Galra network.

"Not much. Just more of the same publicly available information about the Royal Family, except with added "Kioreth." Right next to his Mom," they said, "But I might know how they've got Keith playing along with this whole thing. There is a forged news story about his involvement with a crash during a training exercise that killed his whole squadron because of a solar storm. They make up this whole story, so I'm betting they wiped his memories instead of trying to change the ones he had. I don't know why, but that seems to be what they did."

"Keith's really sensitive to things like the Lions, and probably would have just busted through any sort of spell they tried to put on him to make him believe things other than what was true," Shiro said.

"The term for that is "Quintessence Sensitive."" They jumped as Coran joined them.

"Like Princess Allura?" Pidge asked.

"Similar but not quite the same," Coran said, "But this sensitivity would have made it very hard for them to alter Keith's memories."

"Now we just need to find a way to rescue him," Shiro said.

"It won't be easy and without the ability to form Voltron, we cannot even try," Coran said, "And that proximity to Zarkon….It wouldn't be worth trying." Shiro looked down.

"We'll figure something out, I'm sure of it," Pidge said putting their hand in Shiro's flesh arm.

* * *

 **MP** : Hello! Happy Wednesday.

I hate to do this to you lovely folks, but next week's chapter will be out of sequence, sort of, in honor of Halloween.

That's right, I'm doing a holiday special!

And I will also do other holidays as they pop up for me.

So, count on a Christmas one as well.


	13. Samhain

**MP** : Welcome to the Halloween Special! Please note this is set before the events of _Reclamation._

 **Summary:**

 _It was just a normal night, and the Paladins were entertaining themselves with scary stories. Then reality and fantasy begin to meld as one of the stories comes to life._

 _ **In space, no one can hear you scream.**  
_

* * *

 **Samhain**

"And then when they thought it was safe, **a burgin burst through the tree and ate them**!" Twin screams erupted and there was some groaning. Lance and Hunk were hugging each other while Shiro snickered and Keith groaned at their antics. Though, Pidge, whose hands were still spread from gesturing, might be willing to attribute the fright to their volume and not their story. Keith yawned, showing off his long teeth.

"If you're so bored why don't you tell a story," Lance said after he let go of Hunk.

"Why not ask Shiro, stuff like this is his hobby," Keith said in a flat tone.

"I may like supernatural stuff and scary stories but it's not a hobby," Shiro said.

"You were so into it when we were younger, I'm immune to most stuff now."

"Fair enough. Though, it doesn't compare to something I heard during that year."

The others quieted down and leaned in. Shiro took a breath.

" There are areas of space even the Galra won't go near. Not because there are black holes or something natural, but because there are rumblings that there rips in space that take whole fleets of ships. They vanish before reappearing **completely empty**. Whenever data is attempted to be recovered from these ships, the technicians begin to act funny and then it's too late. They have been taken over by something strange, something monstrous and it won't stop until it and its brethren overrun the normal world and rip open the entire galaxy."

" The way to tell that you're in one of these sections of space is there are an unusual amount of solar storms, sensors stop working, and it's impossible to make any wormholes at all . Survivors tell of an unusual keening noise just before a possessed person attacks and spreads this infection to others. Some say, the cause is the destruction of a star, others say it is because the universe is angry and it is coming **for you**!" Hunk jumped this time and Lance just laughed.

"That was worse than Pidge's attempt!" Lance stood up as the lights flickered.

"Sorry about that! We're entering a bunch of solar storms!" Cora's voice said over the comm system. Hunk swallowed nervously.

"I'm sure that's normal." Pidge stood up, "I'm going to bed." Which meant they were really going to go tinker somewhere alone.

"Sounds good to me," Hunk said joining them. Lance shrugged before the ship lurched and sent everyone back down. The paladins exchanged looks before they bolted for the command room.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked when they entered.

"I'm not sure," Allura said, "Something's not right, and I can't generate a wormhole."

"If you're trying to help Shiro's scary story, this isn't funny anymore," Lance said.

"What scary story?" Coran said, "This is really happening."

"The Castle's Sensors have gone dead. Get into the lions and see if you can do anything from outside the ship," Allura said.

"Wouldn't that make things worse?" Shiro asked.

"The lions can take more than the castle can," Coran said, "They have to, being part of Voltron."

"Alright, let's suit up!" Shiro said.

— — —

The lions flew in formation around the castle and beyond the solar energy around them, coming from the nearby star, Klaatu Barada. There didn't seem to be anything off . Though, there were no planets.

"This was a binary system last time I checked," Coran's voice said over the comms, "Where is Barada Nikto?"

"Was it the kind of star that could go black hole?" Shiro asked.

"No, but it was large enough to go supernova, but it shouldn't have for another hundred million years," Coran said. The Paladins heard an alert from over the comms. A dark purple strip of energy formed to the side of the castle.

"Look out!" the five yelled as one. The screams over the comms left the five lions floating in nearly empty space, staring at where the Castle had been.

"Holy quiznak!"

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

For five agonizing minutes, Pidge tried to do something to trace what had just happened to the Castle Ship. All their modifications to Green came up with nothing. Then the slash reappeared and the Castle with it.

"Keep your armor on," Shiro said as he navigated to the hanger bays, which opened at the command of the lions. The Castle was on auxiliary power, which meant someone had knocked the crystal offline or worse, the crystal was damaged.

"Should we split—."

" **No**!" Lance flinched.

"Dude! You never split up in a horror movie!" Hunk said, "That's how people die!"

"No one's going to die, but we're not splitting up," Shiro said.

"Code Mauve?" Pidge said to Hunk.

"Totally," Hunk said. They walked through the low light jumping at every little thing. Well Keith wasn't. He didn't seem fazed by the—oh.

"I bet you can see perfectly, can't you?" Keith looked back at Pidge and nodded. He waved for everyone to stop.

"What do your elf-ears hear?" Lance asked.

"I hear you getting punched if you don't shut up," Keith growled, "The life support is on, I can hear it even with this helmet on." He pulled the helmet off and his ears twitched at the freedom: he gasped.

"Screaming, in the engine chamber," he said. They ran through the hallways and when they arrived Pidge let out a strangled yelp.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked. Pidge pointed a shaking finger forwards and it was—Keith felt his hair standing on end as he growled and summoned his bayard. The ghastly apparition was Galran in form. The same Galran Pidge had taken down whenever the Castle had been captured by Sendak and his men. Haxus. It gave them a sick smirk before it ghosted forwards and Keith slashed through him only to have to creature reform and it dove at his face. Keith jammed his helmet on and the mist washed over him and the spirit looked at him with a frown.

 **"Too sensitive,** " it moaned.

"Sensitive? Wow, Keith, it also thinks you're too sensitive!" Lance said.

"Get back from it!" Shiro yelled. He held up his Galra tech hand and the ghost recoiled. Shiro looked down before he charged forwards and slammed a glowing palm into the ghost making it turn into a fine mist.

"Shiro's arm is a ghostbuster? I didn't see that coming," Hunk said.

"If we could replicate the energy, we might have a chance," Pidge said after a moment.

"How? All the scanning tech is in your room!" Hunk said. Pidge just stared at him.

"How much time do you think I really spend in there?" Pidge said, "I found a room a level up I prefer to tinker in. Follow me!"

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

As Pidge examined Shiro's arm, Keith paced the room, and Lance sat bored.

"So, Shiro, where do the ghosts of past dead people come into play?" Lance said.

"I made that story up; this is uncharted territory," Shiro said flatly.

"There aren't any here anyway," Keith said.

"Right, you're "sensitive." What's that even mean?"

"He probably has a sixth sense," Hunk said.

"Like that movie?" Lance asked. Lance's face lit up with glee.

"I don't see dead people," Keith said before Lance could even open his mouth, "But they feel weird."

"Ok, if I can work for the next ten minutes, I might be able to make something," Pidge said. Keith let out a startled noise.

"What's wrong?" Keith shakily pointed to the doorway and in shuffled Coran carrying an unconscious Allura on his back.

"It's just Coran and Allura," Lance said.

"Stay back!" Keith said, "Don't get any closer!" Coran stopped and looked up at Keith with a crazed grin and Allura jumped off of Coran's back, clearly not unconscious with the same grin.

It was clear from how the Alteans moved there was something off, let alone their expressions. They lunged for Keith and Lance who jumped back and both kicked a bench they'd nearly fallen over at the pair, which only slowed them down.

"Protect Pidge!" Shiro said as he took a fighting stance. Allura turned purple as she shifted into her more Galra like form.

"I'll take her," Keith said after a moment.

"Not alone you won't," Shiro said.

"Coran, it's me Lance-ahh!" Lance ducked under a wild punch from Coran and Hunk charged him only to be kicked aside.

"Why aren't they talking?"

"You are not ready to hear me." Coran's mouth moved but it was clearly not his voice.

"Show yourself!" Keith demanded.

"Ah, but why should I? I already command the one who can stop me." this time whatever it was used Allura's mouth.

"Shiro! Try hitting Allura with your hand when the energy's on!" Pidge said. The possessed looked over at them and renewed their efforts to get to Pidge. Hunk and Lance using a combination of teamwork to block Coran, sort of. Mostly it was Lance tripping Coran with whatever he could get his hands on and Hunk using his body to bash Coran.

Allura kept throwing Shiro and Keith across the room. Shiro managed to get Allura in the gut with a glowing hand and sent her into a wall hard. For a terrible moment Allura didn't move but then a dark mist flowed out of her heading right for Shiro who blocked it with his glowing hand again. Allura stirred and moaned in pain.

"What happened?"

"We don't have time to explain," Keith said. Shiro joined the others and ambushed Coran with a glowing hit.

"Shiro what are you—." Allura stopped short when she saw the mist Shiro defeated next.

"He had to hit you. Whatever energy the hand emits is not good for whatever those are," Hunk said.

"Totally a ghostbuster!" Lance said before he went into a bad rendition of the opening riff of the theme.

"You might have robbed me of those vessels, but you'll not deny me further!" the voice rumbled. Keith and Allura shivered.

"You feel it too?" she said. Keith nodded. Allura offered her hand, "Together we can locate it." Keith hesitated before he offered his hand to Allura and both closed their eyes.

"It's in the depths of the ship," Allura said opening her eyes, "It's horrible."

"You almost done with that?" Lance asked.

"Unless you want it to explode in our faces, no!" Pidge said.

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

"There!" there were nozzles on the table connected to a larger pack via hoses.

"I couldn't make more than one, but I was able to make one with multiple attachments.

"From the size alone, either Hunk or I would have to wear it," Allura said.

"I'll do it," Hunk said as he pulled on the pack and pulled a nozzle off and held it in his hands. The others each grabbed one and soon, everyone except Shiro had their own extension. He lit up his hand and nodded to everyone else.

"Let's go kick some monster butt," he said. They exited the room to see more dark mist had gathered. Shiro charged first and dodged the six violet streams that also went though the air, slightly scorching the paneling.

"Maybe we should just let Shiro lead the way," Allura said after a moment.

"Oh, I have one more warning," Pidge said, "We can't—."

"Cross the streams?" Lance said waggling his eyebrows.

"No, we can't keep up all six firing at the same time for too long. Five minutes before the pack explodes."

"Can we not do that guys?" Hunk said.

"Seconded," Keith said.

"Thirded," Shiro said.

"Anything else?" Coran asked.

"Try not to hit anyone else," Pidge said.

They advanced through the ship slowly. Shiro had to fight for every foot they progressed and then the lift was a constant battle against the ever thicker mist. They arrived on the level where Allura and Keith had sensed it and the pair began to tremble violently.

"You will not prevail, you foolish mortals! This beast will not be contained again!" The form was a hideous creature that had Lance gasp,

" **En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. Amén**." as he crossed himself with his right hand. Whatever this beast was, it matched the various depictions of demons or the devil in many regions. It seemed ethereal like it wasn't fully anchored.

"Do you think you're gods who can oppose me?" it sneered.

"No. But we're Voltron!" Shiro said as he charged forwards and the creature batted him aside with a clawed hand only to get a blast to the side from Keith.

"Fire!" Allura said. The room warped and Allura saw Altea restored before her.

 **"Don't you want the power to do this?"**

"No. It would be wrong!" Allura said as she kept firing.

Meanwhile Pidge saw her family reunited and Earth made aware of aliens.

Lance saw his family waiting for him.

Hunk saw Shay and the Balmera were forever safe.

Shiro saw himself from before his capture.

Keith saw nothing.

 **"Could it be you want nothing because you are nothing?** "

"NO! I already have everything I could want!" Keith snarled.

 **"Not even being restored to your previous state?"**

"I was still half-Galra!" Keith said as he increased the stream from his nozzle. He noticed Shiro snapped out of his daze and punched the demon thing.

"I'll never become like that!" he yelled.

Everyone except Hunk seemed to have snapped out of whatever little daze they were in.

"Cross the streams!" Pidge converged their stream on Hunk's and the creature screamed before it glowed violet and the energy rip appeared around it, causing a wind as the air rushed towards it, whipping their hair about which finally snapped Hunk out of his daze.

"We need something to blast it back into the rip!" Pidge yelled.

"We can rig this to blow!" Hunk said as he turned off his nozzle and slipped out of the pack and began tinkering with it. Pidge joined him.

"Everyone stop shooting on the count of three. One. Two. Three!" they tossed the pack at the beast as Shiro dashed back to the others and it exploded in a flash of violet light and the rip vanished along with the monster and there was minimal damage done to the ship around it.

"Let's get out of this sector," Coran said.

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

"Where do you think that thing came from?" Pidge looked at Lance like he was nuts.

"Allura and Coran don't remember anything from that trip into the other space," Shiro said.

"Well, I do remember something," Coran said, "It was so bizarre, but it looked like there was another Voltron fighting something like that fellow you fought on Arus."

"Another Voltron? Really?" Allura said, "I wonder if they had anything in common with this universe?"

"If that thing was from there, I bet things are really screwed up like Keith's the Black Paladin, I'm the Red Paladin, Shiro's the blue and has a ridiculous accent, Hunk's stupid and Pidge is actually a boy," Lance said.

"It'd only be really messed up if only one person wore armor that matched their lion," Hunk said.

"What about us?" Coran asked.

"Well, if Allura was some sort of Damsel in distress and you were humorless grump," Shiro said.

"And everyone except Pidge, Allura, and Coran had mullets," Keith said.

"Ha! If you know mullets are lame, why do you wear one?" Lance said.

"I like it, ok?" Keith said, "I never claimed it was cool."

"I bet the Zarkon in that universe is less of a threat," Hunk said, "If our counterparts are that crazy."

"Wouldn't that be nice," Pidge said.

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

In an alternate universe not too far away ,

Team Voltron, plus Allura and Coran, sneezed in unison.

"Vhat vas that?" Sven said.

"It's believed if you sneeze for no reason, someone's talking about you," Pidge said.

"I wonder who? Probably a pretty girl," Lance said.

"Though, for a moment, I could have sworn, I saw another Castle of Lions out there during the battle against that Robeast today," Keith said.

"Vhat? An alternate Voltron?" Sven said, "That vould be interesting."

"Sounds unlikely to me," Hunk said.

— — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .** — — **. .— . . — . .—. — . — —**

 _Fin_

* * *

Notes:

Happy Halloween!  
Welcome to our first Holiday special. We'll get back to the main plot next time.  
I hope you liked the ending. I'm not saying the old Voltron was bad or anything, just think about how weird it would be for the 80's Voltron group to meet the LD Crew. To them, things would be messed up.  
Plus, I felt like having a joke at the old school group's expense.  
I also drew a **lot** of inspiration from _Doctor Who_ , _Star Trek: Next Generation, and_ _Ghostbusters_ (1984).

I just had to borrow the _Alien_ tagline because I was writing space horror.

I did hide one additional Sci-Fi reference in the story. Let me know if you spot it. ^_^

PS. If you're reading this on FF. Net, you'll notice I posted it on Tuesday.


	14. Red

**Summary:** _On a neutral planet, Shiro finds a dead man and understands the phrase "seeing Red" all the better now._

* * *

 **Red**

 _Matt Holt still couldn't get over how much Katie had changed. At times, it was like looking at a creepy younger mirror as Katie masqueraded as "Pidge." Yet, he had to admit being impressed by the skills his little sister displayed with alien tech. Skills he wished he'd had. Perhaps he and his father could have escaped sooner. It was also a huge shock to see that little Katie was now one of the feared paladins of Voltron alongside Shiro. There were a few holo-pictures of the paladins that Allura and Coran (the last two Alteans in the universe: that was mind boggling) had taken of the completed Paladins of Voltron. The first few pictures featured a guy with Asian like features and purple eyes. Then, in photos dated just before his rescue, this guy was replaced by a Galra version of the same guy. He had sort of cat like ears like other galra officers but a darker patch of hair like a mane. The Galra image clicked with an image he'd seen before and Matt realized this was the missing paladin: Keith. Why had he looked human before? Matt shook his head, it didn't matter. Finding a way to get him back was the important part. Without him, Katie and the others couldn't form Voltron and without Voltron, they had no hope in Hell in stopping the Galra Empire._

— — — —v— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

 _"And we—."_

 _"Lance, dressing up and doing the hula is_ ** _not_** _a good way to sneak into the heart of the Galra Empire," Shiro said. Lance comically deflated and Hunk laughed a little._

 _"It's been two weeks and we've yet come up with any sort of plan to get Keith back," Pidge said fixing their glasses. The other three paladins shrugged in unison._

 _"Without Keith we can't form Voltron and there goes our biggest asset," Lance said, "And even if we could form Voltron, Zarkon could break us up and we'd still be screwed."_

 _"Why not wait for him to venture out on his own?" The paladins turned to see Sam Holt had entered the room, "From what I saw in my captivity, the children of Zarkon are often venturing into space far from the Galra core, and when your friend is far from his grandfather and the center of the Empire, rescue him then."_

 _"There's also the fact he has no memories of us," Hunk said, "I don't know about you guys, but Keith's a flier that I really wouldn't want to take on in a ship-to-ship fight."_

 _"I could handle him," Lance and Shiro said in unison._

 _"We're going to need intel," Pidge said, "That means hacking into more secure networks and getting to those networks to hack them. Any ideas on how to do that?"_

— — — —v— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Team Voltron plus the Rescued Holts, landed on a neutral planet after doing what they could to fight off Galra in local systems. Shiro passed a merchant and stopped. Those blades….He took a closer look at the merchant and his jaw dropped. If Keith hadn't been altered, this would be what he'd look like in about twenty or thirty years. He'd also seen this man's face once, in a crinkled photograph years and years ago. A man he had been told was dead.

"See something you like, Champion?" the man asked in English. Shiro snapped out of it and replied in Japanese,

" _What the hell are you doing here_?" The man looked taken a back.

" _Have we met_?" the man replied in the same language.

" _Why the hell did you leave Earth_?" Shiro demanded.

The other paladins had joined him and were confused by the Black Paladin's sudden decision to yell in _Japanese_ at a space man. They were shocked when the space man yelled _back_ in the **same language**.

" _The Galra had arrived and my mother's people had already lost their home world to those demons once before_ ," he said.

" _That only happened within the last year. Where the Hell have you been for the last eleven years_!" Shiro said.

" _What right have you to demand that_?" the man said getting angry.

" _I was Keith's foster brother before I joined the garrison_!"Shiro snapped, " _You look good for a dead man,_ Ji-hun Kogane."

" _You lie! My son died when he was six in that car accident_!"Ji-hun yelled standing up and shouting in Shiro's face.

" _Bullshit! He was told_ ** _you_** _were the one dead_!" Shiro yelled back.

" _What proof do I even have that you're not lying to me, Champion_?"Ji-hun asked

"Shiro, why are you yelling at an older looking less purple version of Keith in Japanese?" Lance asked in English. Ji-hun Kogane looked over at Lance.

"Say that again?"

"I asked Shiro why he was yelling at you and that you look like an older less-purple version of Keith," Lance said.

" ** _That fucking lying son of a bitch_** ** _!_** " Ji-hun snarled, this time in Korean. Shiro's eyebrow rose. Keith had taught him more than a few Korean swear words whenever the Shiroganes were fostering Keith.

"Who lied?" Shiro asked. Ji-hun turned to another Iyurian who had arrived. An older Iyurian who did have some features in common with Ji-hun.

"Tell me, Uncle, was my son dead whenever you pulled me from that car?" Ji-hun asked. The Iyurian looked up at the other man,

"Asking me about it again doesn't bring back the dead," he said.

" **ERRRRRHHHHG**! Wrong answer!" Lance said. The Iyurian finally took in the fact the Paladins of Voltron were present.

"That was no child in the vehicle with you. It was a monster," the man said his face setting into a hard line.

"No. You are." Everyone turned to see the usually happy Hunk was now a dark tower of rage. "You left a kid in a wrecked car to die and lied to his father." Ji-hun took a breath before he punched out his Uncle.

"Where is my son?"

"You'd better come with us," Allura said after the paladins and Alteans exchanged looks.

— — — —v— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Pidge pulled up a picture of Pre-Galra Keith with the group for Ji-hun to see.

"He does look like me," Ji-hun said.

"He still does, mostly, but…," Pidge then progressed to a more recent picture.

"How did that happen?" Ji-hun asked gesturing to the more Galran appearance.

"A psychotic Druid," Shiro said flatly.

"Is there any other kind?" Matt and Sam Holt had joined the group at the laptop.

"Dad, this is Keith's father," Pidge said as they pulled up the saved information about the Imperial family.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Kogane," Sam said, "This is my son Matt and you've met Katie."

"Katie?" Ji-hun said.

"Pidge," Lance said, "Don't feel bad, we didn't know Pidge was a girl until we were told."

"Don't lump me in with the rest of you," Shiro said.

"Twyla isn't married, by the way," Pidge said pointing to the image of Twyla in the children line up. Ji-hun seemed to file this information away.

"Did you know she was—." Lance began.

"I knew who her father was ever since I saw her dagger," Ji-hun said, "Why is Keith listed under _that_ name?"

"They kidnapped him and best we can tell, they've wiped his memories," Allura said.

"And "Keith" isn't a very Galra name," Coran said.

"No it isn't. Twyla **_hated_** it," Ji-hun said, "Begged me to consider her choice or even "Akira" instead. I talked her into agreeing with me in the end. What's the plan?"

"We need to wait for him to be in a more exposed part of the empire, but that could be years," Shiro said, "Without him, we can't form Voltron—."

" _The_ Voltron?" Ji-hun asked. Allura nodded.

"Keith's the Red Paladin," she said, "And while we still have the lion, we need him."

— — — —v— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Ji-hun knew this was a move more worthy of Twyla than him, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He found the Red Lion sitting with its particle barrier up, and it looked like it was…. _moping_. If half of what he'd heard from the other paladins was correct...

"Hey!" he said. It looked at him. He would have be impressed by its programming had it not been for the fact its quintessence felt _alive_ : Not "its," _her_.

"Do you want your paladin back?" he asked her, "Then let's make a deal. You let me pilot you and I'll help them return him to you. Do we have a deal?" Ji-hun didn't back down or show any weakness, but he knew that unless this lion would fly for someone else, they were forced to try to wait for Keith to in an exposed position and that was time Team Voltron, and the universe for that matter, didn't have. With a Roar and nudge in his mind, the Red Lion agreed.

"Let's get our cub back."

* * *

 **MP** : Welcome back to our regularly scheduled timeline.

Ji-hun Kogane: AKA Keith's Father.

Half-Iyuran, Half-human. His father was Korean, but died when he was young so his mother, an Iyurian survivor, remarried a Japanese-American named Akira "Keith" Kogane.


	15. Excursion

**Summary:** _On the Galra home world, a teenager decides on making an unsupervised trip._

* * *

 **Excursion**

Kioreth _knew_ he'd be toast if he got caught doing this, but he wasn't a baby anymore! He didn't _need_ a guard! So, wearing clothes he'd seen other Galra his age wearing, and carrying his knife and an energy sword strapped to his thigh, the only grandson of Zarkon decided to sneak out of the royal residence. He slipped into the gardens where his "Great Aunt", Queen Mylla, held court. His Grandfather's sixth wife, she helped run the home world while his Grandfather was off expanding the empire. Her sister wives, his own Grandmother and other "Great Aunt" were a high ranking druid and general respectively and had very little time for being Queen or anything else for that matter. Though, his elder aunts and uncles hadn't minded raising their younger siblings in the slightest. Except Uncle Lotor, but Kioreth found that only their father even remotely liked him and even then, he was sure that was only because Lotor was a good warrior. His abilities to fight and fly were Uncle Lotor's sole redeeming quartiles. That was kind of…pathetic.

Kioreth shook his head and focused on getting past all of Queen Mylla's fluttering couriers and the serving droids. Kioreth slid past the last few obstacles and found what he'd been looking for: the service droid exit hatch. The slightly camouflaged panel was shut. He waited and a droid exited. He moved to dive in. He movement was stopped abruptly and he was picked up by strong hands.

"Where do you think you're going, cub?" Aunt Merra had caught him.

"Out."

"Without an escort?"

"I'm not a fangless baby who can't protect himself!"

"True, but to us you'll _alway_ be a fangless baby," she said setting him on his feet. She studied him before she grabbed his arm and dragged him along behind her. When they stopped, Kioreth wrenched his arm free and rubbed his shoulder while she messed with an purple ivy covered wall.

"Ah, ha!" she pressed a panel and it revealed a secret passage.

"Father had this put here in case of emergencies," Merra said, "Be back by dinner and don't do anything Andaroth would do. We have no need for any _grand_ nephews."

"Aunt Merra," Kioreth was sure the skin under his fur was on fire.

"Be careful, Little One, and I'll see you at dinner," she said before walking away. Kioreth looked down the tunnel and decided to take it before she changed her mind.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Daibaza City, the crown jewel of the Galra Home World, was crowded, smelled funky, and an eclectic mix of many different eras of Galra history. There were very little plants to be found outside the trees in domed mini-arboretums here and there to beautify the city and purify the air. It was all a picture of clustered chaos. The further away from the Royal Residence Kioreth got, the more the city looked a little less orangized and more and more chaotic. Of course the quality of buildings and air grew worse too. Many species lived on the planet but the populace was also definitely more varied in the less affluent parts of the metropolis. Kiroeth stopped off at a food stand to buy some sort of meat on a stick. Whatever it was, to his senses, it smelled heavenly. It tasted somewhat familiar. Must have had it before in another form. He threw the stick away as he kept walking.

"You seem lost." Kioreth saw it was a scraggly Desert Galra cub around his own age who'd spoken. There were others who appeared to be mixes of Desert Galra and Coastal Galra.

"Just passing through," Kioreth said.

"He even _speaks_ like one of them. So, rich cub, hand over your money and we won't kill you."

"I'd like to see you try," Kioreth snarled. The first one threw a punch which Kioreth dodged as he ran forwards and drove his knee into the apparent leader's gut before ducking a grab from another and he kicked them into the rest of the group sending them into the dirt. They got back up drawing pathic little knives. So Kioreth responded in kind draw his dagger, though he kept the symbol hidden by holding the blade at an angle to use light to obscure it.

This time the group charged him as one. He ducked and used the blade to block a stab from the leader. He used a free hand to grab the leader's wrist, and squeeze making that one drop his knife, which he kicked away and rolled out of the circle and continued to tear the others apart. A flash of pain, and one had gotten a lucky slice to his face. A kick sent that would-be thief flying into a wall, where he was unconscious. The last pair had stopped dead in their tracks. Was it his skills or….damn, the symbol. The crest of the house of Zarkon was visible. They were kneeling.

"Please forgive us, your highness!" they begged. Kiroeth waved it off.

"I think the beating I gave you is punishment enough," he said sheathing the blade. He looked up at the sky. Oh no. He was going to be late! "Just, next time you ambush someone, think that maybe they're better trained than you." With that, he took off running. He was going to be in so much trouble if he didn't make it back in time.

Kioreth ignored the stares the many people in the streets gave him, especially the further into the exclusive areas he ran. He found the entrance to the passage and bolted down through it. He skidded into the gardens right in front of Queen Mylla. The imposing Desert Galra woman was fighting back laughter.

"You look just like your Mother right now," she said after a moment dusting some of the dirt off, "Go clean up before dinner and get that cut looked at. I trust the one who gave it to you was taught a lesson?"

"Of course, " Kioreth said before he bowed his head to the queen. He ran off to his rooms.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

A freshly cleaned Kioreth arrived at dinner at the same time as,

"Mother!"

"Ki'eth!" she hugged him before she frowned.

"Explain to me why you're bleeding, young man." He'd forgotten about the cut. He was _doomed_.

* * *

 **MP** : It's Wednesday!

Sorry for the shortness of this one, but I was having trouble focusing but I knew I couldn't _not_ update. So, I gave you this mini-adventure. I hope it's not disappointing.


	16. Courtship

**Summary:** _How it all began._

 _One crashed ship, a stranded Galra princess, and a half-alien man._

* * *

 **Courtship**

 _"How did you meet a human? Was he captured?"_

 _"No. I was. I had crashed on your planet and your government had me locked up…"_

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

 **18 Years Ago**

Twyla opened her eyes weakly, and there was blood running down the side of her face. That worm hole had been destabilized and after that her ship had gone mostly dead. Twyla undid her seat restraints and dropped to the side of her ship, since her ship seemed to have crashed on its side. The gravity was similar to Doom's, from what she could tell. Hopefully it was a civilized planet. She woozily made sure her crest dagger was on her hip as she staggered to the emergency hatch. The lever didn't engage at first but it burst off with a small explosion making the injured Galra's head ring. Damn Concussion. She tried to exit the ship but the light made her wince and her head pound. She slumped against the side trying to get her bearing, but it was not to be. Something entered her ship, and it was babbling at her in a language she didn't recognize and her ship's translation unit was probably fried in the crash. She was dragged out into the bright lights by this alien, who reminded her of a very pale Iyurian, and she was restrained as they searched her for weapons, finding only her dagger. She weakly grabbed for it. Her Father gave that to her, damn it! She snarled but they injected her with something she went under. She hoped these aliens didn't just kill her.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Dr. Ji-hun Kogane, xenobiologist and microbiologist, cursed whenever he arrived on the scene and the alien, who had been acting a bit concussed had been knocked out.

"You morons! She was concussed!" he said.

"Dr. Kogane!" the soldier said.

"Don't give me that. Get her to medical."

"Her, sir?" another soldier said.

"You have a hand on one of her breasts, solider," Ji-hun said. The Solider looked down and saw he was indeed touching a breast. He shifted his grip and they carried the purple alien woman away from the scene

"Wait, let me see that dagger," Ji-hun said as he saw another solider walking away with the primitive looking weapon. The soldier complied and Ji-hun unsheathed it and had to fight off a gasp. He'd know that metal anywhere, and with the symbol on the blade he knew what the woman was.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

"Examinations show that Dr. Kogane was correct in labeling this alien as female. She is very similar to a human woman in most regards as far as her general body shape and primary and secondary sex characteristics are concerned. Genetic capability with humans is unknown. Body temperature is at around 100', and her heartbeat is different than ours but steady. Brainwaves seem to match up with a concussion, and I will be monitoring this alien closely. Other species variation is that she is covered in a fine coat of purple fur, with a longer mane on her head, and felid ears. Her incisors appear to be more felid as well, and her nails are claws, but her hands are very much like a human's in shape. Careful examination of her eyes revealed that the assumption she had no pupils was incorrect: the pupils are under a top protective layer commonly seen in lizards, and the reason this coloration is as such is unknown, but it would seem to aid in low light sight. MRI's show that her muscle density is higher than ours, and her bone density was revealed to be similarly more dense from X-rays. In short, we are dealing with a life form who is potentially stronger than the average human."

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Twyla awoke in a glass cell, her head still pounding but better. She was wearing some sort of loose garments and not her flight suit. She flexed her fingers. They responded just fine and the light sensitivity seemed to have worn off. Problem was, she needed to not be in a cell. This planet would suffer if her big brothers and sisters had to come rescue her from being vivisected.

"What are you doing on this planet, Galra?" That was Galatic Standard.

Twyla turned her head to see it was one of the semi-Iyurian looking in habitants of this planet. Though, he looked a lot more Iyurian to her than the others.

"I crashed. We were traveling through a wormhole and something destabilized it," Twyla said.

"Where did you get an Iyurian metal dagger?" he asked.

"My Father gave it to me," Twyla said.

"Your father is part of Zarkon's household," the man said, "A General, a trusted Druid? What?"

"None of the above," Twyla said annoyed.

"Are the Galra on their way here?" he asked.

"No. This is an accident and if I can get out of here and on my way, I won't tell them where I was," Twyla said.

"That seems awfully generous of the daughter of a genocidal tyrant bent on domination of the universe," the man said.

"So, you figured that out, huh? Congratulations, you've just met Her Imperial Highness Princes Twyla. Youngest child of Zarkon," she said, "Daughter of Kirra the Druid, and Granddaughter of Kioreth the Rebel who was murdered before his granddaughter's very eyes for doing the right thing."

"Ji-hun Kogane. Son of Kuno Kogane and Iyura the Iyurian," Ji-hun said as he punched a code into the side panel. He tossed her the dagger.

"By all rights, you should want me dead," Twyla said catching her crest dagger.

"By all rights, yes, but Kioreth saved 100 of the Iyurians with his rebellion, so I have to repay that debt somehow," Ji-hun said.

"Aren't you risking yourself?" Twyla asked as she followed him out of the compound.

"Earthling technology is very easy to confuse," Ji-hun said.

"Earthlings themselves, not so much," Twyla said before she focused and her form shimmered to look more like an Asian woman instead of an alien one.

"Druid?"

"Failed one. This is the best I can do, now let's go before I run out of quintessence," Twyla said, "So we have three hundred ticks."

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Twyla was impatient in the shack in the desert but when she heard the vehicle arrive she cautiously looked out to see Ji-hun driving a truck.

"It took a few strings and favors but I got the ship. Can you really fix this thing, Galra?"

"I'm actually an Engineer for the fleet," Twyla said, "Should be a piece of glofi tart."

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

"I regret saying that." Twyla sighed as she looked at her mangled ship. Poor Black Wind. With help, she was able to get it up onto makeshift blocks and the damage was extensive. It would take a minimum of four months to repair if she was on a properly advanced planet. This planet? This was going to take forever.

"Prognosis?" Ji-hun asked offering her a beverage he called "tea."

"I'm going to be here a while. Not a piece of glofi tart at all. More like trying to hunt a yelmore," she said.

"Grandma told me about that," Ji-hun said with a wince.

"Are there more Iyurians on this planet?" Twyla asked.

"Hidden, but yes. My mother marrying a human wasn't exactly something the others liked but it was a reality for many of the younger ones. I haven't been in contact with the rest of the Iyurians since I turned seventeen and my mother died," Ji-hun said.

"My condolences. Your Galactic Standard is excellent," Twyla said.

"Mom always made sure I spoke all the native languages of my heritage. Iyurian, Galactic Standard, Korean, and Japanese. She had wanted to be a diplomat before…." Ji-hun said.

"Would you like to learn about the advanced mechanics of this ship?" Twyla said, "I could use a second set of hands."

"I was hoping you'd ask," Ji-hun asked.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

"You're what?"

"Pregnant," Twyla said.

"But you're Galra!"

"And you're already an alien crossbreed," Twyla pointed out with her ears down.

"This kid if going to be a quarter-Human, a quarter-Iyuiran, and half-Galra. What would that even look like? Like you? Like me?" Ji-hun said.

"If the child looks like me, then when I leave this planet, I will take them with me. If they look like you, then only I will be leaving," Twyla said.

"Leave? But Twyla-."

"I'm more than just "Twyla" and you know it," Twyla said, "If my siblings find this planet while looking for me, the empire has found this planet and the last Iyurians and all of humanity are doomed. I have to return to them. If I could stay, I would. I don't want to make Earth another Iyuria because I was selfish."

"It's not selfish to want to stay. Figure out some way to make it look like you died," Ji-hun said.

"My Mother is a Druid. She can always sort of feel my Quintessence. Not enough to trace me, but she knows I'm alive," Twyla said, "Please. I cannot take you with me, or you'd be seen as nothing more than my slave. If anyone figured out you were mating with me, you'd be taken to the arena and Lotor, my oldest most evil brother, would kill you slowly for presuming yourself worthy of an Imperial Princess. Not because he cares about my honor, but because if I'm an alien lover, then it reflects on him too."

"If the child looks Galra, and you take them with you and they find out they're a crossbreed?" Ji-hun asked.

"They'll still be the blood of Zarkon, and treasured for the proof of Galran superiority," Twyla said bitterly.

"If they look like me, they stay here," Ji-hun said. Twyla nodded before she burst into tears.

"Damn, hormones," she sobbed as Ji-hun held her.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Pink skin. No fur. Round ears. Violet eyes. In short, the child looked more Iyurian than his own father did. Twyla tickled the infant's stomach making the baby giggle. He would be staying with Ji-hun. This saddened her but also made her happy. This child would not know what it's like to grow up idolizing someone only to find out they're a monster later in life. Would not grow up as the central part of a monstrous empire, like she did.

"I still don't like the name Keith," Twyla said.

"He looks like a Keith like this. Maybe if he was purple, a Galra name would be fitting. Can you tell me that he looks like a Kioreth?" Ji-hun said leaning over the bed and kissing her forehead.

"I can, but at this point, he needs an Earth name to fit in on Earth," Twyla said with a sad smile.

"When will you leave?" Ji-hun said.

"In two months," Twyla said.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Twyla looked over her patched ship and fought back a sob. She walked out of the ship and saw her mate and child were at the bottom of the ramp. The baby Keith had no idea what was going on, and for that she was glad. She pulled her Crest dagger off the back of her belt and presented it to Ji-hun sheath and all.

"When he's old enough, give this to him," Twyla said, "It's not as good as me being there for him, but I can at least know something I did will protect him on this planet."

"Please. Stay," Ji-hun said taking the dagger. Twyla gave a watery smile and shook her head.

"If I stay, this all dies. If I leave, only I will be hurt," she said before she carefully pulled him into a kiss. She kissed the child on his head before she stepped back.

"Maybe some day I'll figure out a way to return to you," Twyla said, "But don't give up any potential happiness for a maybe. I'd rather you be happy without me."

"I'll wait for you," Ji-hun said.

"Don't tell him what I am, I beg you," Twyla said, "I don't want him to think all Galra are like me. I don't need him thinking they're something worth finding." Ji-hun nodded. Twyla turned and fled up the ramp. Her take off was rough, but it is very hard to fly with tears in your eyes.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

Merra hadn't let go of Twyla in over five minutes and Twyla suspected her eldest sister wasn't planning on it for a while.

"Quit hogging her!" Twyla saw Arlioth was standing next to his only older sister bouncing on his feet like a cub.

"Go away, little brother. Twyla and I need to have a talk," Merra said dragging her much smaller sister with her. Merra was a Desert Galra like their Father was, and her head scales were a darker violet than the rest of her, and but her pointed ears were a little longer than average adding to her beauty.

"Sister, where is it?" Merra asked once they were alone.

"Where is what?" Twyla asked. Merra placed a hand on Twyla's abdomen and the younger Galra burst into tears.

"Did you lose it?" Merra asked. Twyla sobbed harder and Merra pulled her little sister into tighter hug for it.

"I've been there too, Twy," Merra said combing a clawed hand through Twyla's mane, "You'll heal and in time maybe you'll have another cub. Was it a boy or a girl?"

"A-a boy," Twyla sobbed, "He looked like his father."

"Is that where your dagger really is?" Merra said. Twyla nodded.

"We'll have a private ceremony later. For now, let's get you to your mother, and she'll heal any lingering damage you have, ok?" Merra said.

"Ok," Twyla said choking back more tears.

For all the impossibility of getting back to her mate and son, she might as well have miscarried.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

 _"Appa, what's this?"_

 _"Unwrap it to find out."_

 _"It's a big knife!"_

 _"It was your mother's dagger. She got it from her father."_

 _"Just like I'm getting it from you, Appa?"_

 _"Yes. She wanted you to have it so you'd always have a piece of her with you."_

 _"Thank you, Appa!"_

 _"This isn't a toy, so you need to be very careful with it, ok Keith?"_

 _"I promise!"_

* * *

 **MP:** To make up for the abruptly short installment this week, I'm posting this extra too.


	17. Commission

**Summary:** _A Galra cub accepts a comission to serve with his mother_

 _His mother discovers something **big**_

* * *

 **Commission**

Kioreth arrived early to breakfast and saw only the piles of food and droids had preceded him. He reached for a plate of meats whenever his mother arrived.

"Morning Mother,"

"Good Morning, Ki'eth," she said, "I hope you weren't planning on sneaking out to the city today."

"Of course not," Kioreth said. He had taken normally what Arlioth would consider a small helping but the rest of the family, except Aunt Merra, considered large, but he'd been starving recently.

"Good, because you don't have a free day today, you're with me," she said as she grabbed her plate full of food. Kioreth smiled. It had been a while since he'd be alone with his Mother.

"Hey, I heard you snuck out, runt!" Arlioth said messing with Kiroeth's hair as the younger galra was trying to eat.

"I still think he was aided and abetted."

"Morning, Aunt Arriora!" The other of his Druid relatives had arrived to breakfast, her hood down and the coastal galra looked in desperate need of energy. Twyla passed her the caf and the table fell silent except for the sounds of eating. Arriora was the first one done despite being the last one there.

"Lots to do. See you all at dinner," she said walking out looking a bit less like a _marbah_. Of course, with her yellow face markings and white hair, no one would mistake her for anything other than a druid.

"Look who I managed drag out of the lab and to breakfast!" Zaerif said as he entered with a jungle galra woman who looked ready to rip his head off, otherwise known as,

"Morning, Aunt Terra," Keith said.

"Is it?" she said. She sat down and nearly dozed off at her plate, her light purple mane looking frazzled.

"Is that my egg-head twin sister actually at breakfast?" Aunt Herra, Terra's more muscular identical twin had arrived.

"It's a new record," Twyla said, "No one has seen her outside for a week."

"It is not," Terra snapped after chugging a mug of caf and immediately filling up another, "I've gone ten days before!"

"That's it. We're assigning a droid to drag your _soi_ out of that lab to eat every other day," Merra said as she entered carrying her personal mug that was already brimming with caf in it. The others stared at her and it. "What? You hate it when I drink from the pot, but now you're judging my mug?"

"Are you sure that's not just a slightly different pot, Aunt Merra?" Kioreth said. The others laughed but she rolled her eyes and sat down next to Arlioth.

"Ha-ha," Merra said, but without any real heat to it. It was the most siblings they'd had at the table in a while.

"Anyone else want to judge my caf habits?" Merra asked from behind her heaped plate.

"I would but I'm just as guilty," Zaerif said.

"Same," Herra and Terra said in unison.

"The only one here _not_ addicted to that stuff is the cub and that's because we won't let him drink it," Arlioth said.

"And that will continue unless you want shoved out an airlock," Twyla said sweetly.

"This is what happens when Merra is responsible for the primary care of a cub," Arlioth said. Herra tossed an empty plate at his head.

"Think before you speak, bolts-for-brains!" Herra said.

"It's ok, Herra, I've got this," Merra said before she slapped Arlioth up alongside his head.

"She's abusing me and you're just letting her?" Arlioth said.

"You earned that," Twyla said as she refiled her mug for the third time, "Stupidity should hurt, House of Zarkon Rule #3."

"What're Rules #1 and #2 then?" Arlioth asked.

"Rule #2, even though it's funny to see him swell up, we do not trick Lotor into eating Iyurian Plums," Terra said,

"and Rule #1 is Lotor is forever disinvited to the Annual Celebration of Family for the rest of our collective lives for an incident even _you_ should remember without prompting."

"Oh, right," Arlioth said.

"Arli, you'd think you'd learn not to pick fights with our sisters."

"Zari." The older full brother of Arlioth was a nearly black shade of violet for his fur, just as tall, and his ears were smaller. His coat was also more wiry and fluffy.

"You're actually on the home world for once!" Merra said.

"Father is growing weary of the Piracy plaguing some of the border systems in other sectors and since I've had massive success in suppressing pirates, he wants my skills elsewhere," Zari said filling up his plate, "IF that means I get to see the rest of the family, who am I to say no."

"Unless it's Lotor," Arlioth said. Zari's face fell flat as he ate.

"Twyla, your engineering fleet will now be under my protection, and I've convinced Father to assign an actual fighter pilot vessel to act as your permanent escort," he said.

"Really? Who?" Twyla said.

"Kioreth," he said.

"Jerk! I was going to take him into my fleet!" Herra said.

"Like you'd have beaten me to him," Merra snorted.

"Aw, but I wanted him!" Arlioth said. The others rolled their eyes.

"I was designing a new class of fighter at Zari's request for the past week, now I know why," Terra said.

"You'd commission as an Ensign and be answerable to your mother more than ever, if you accept this," Zari said.

"Of course!" Kioreth said.

"Good. You'll report to Terra's lab to get the manuals for your new fighter and then to the simulators to get a feel for how it moves," Zari said.

"Thank you Uncle Zari!"

"You're welcome, but it'll be Admiral Zari whenever others are around and Captain Twyla and not "mother.""

"I understand, sir!" Kiroeth said saluting. The others just laughed at the cub's eagerness.

"You understand, you won't be seeing any _real_ action escorting my engineering crew," Twyla said.

"I know, but I heard about the pirate incident from Uncle Arlioth," Kioreth said.

"If I order you to leave me behind, I expect you to follow that order. Your Aunts and Uncles have fleets all over Galra space, and will be able to rescue me," Twyla said.

"But-."

"I will be fine but promise me you'll follow that order. Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good, finish your food, you've got a lot to go over today before you even get to the tasks I had already planned on assigning you," Twyla said.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

"I know this isn't an exciting read, but you need to know your ship inside and out," Twyla said from across the table from him. They were in Terra's private study where the manuals for his new fighter were all over the table. She had blazed right through most of the manuals with ease. Then again, she was the trained mechanical engineer.

"So if I crash, I can tell how screwed I am" Kioreth said.

"Yes, and you might be able to fix some minor things yourself. The fact this is a prototype is also problematic. There are already several things I'm going to need to tweak to keep it running smoothly, but that's why Terra usually gives the "honor" of her prototypes to a pilot engineer or a pilot who will be serving with an engineer," Twyla said. Kioreth sighed and got back to reading. It wasn't that he _didn't_ understand what he was reading, but he just preferred action.

"Come take look at this section," Twyla beckoned him over and she pressed a button on the holopad she had and it projected an image of the engine chamber and its crystal.

"This is not a balmera crystal. It's something new. It's raw crystallized quintessence. I've heard Haggar was trying to do something with it, but this is both frightening and strange. This had all the power of a large Balmera crystal but it's only a fraction of the size. I'm going to need to double and triple check the power circuits coming off this thing or you could end up basically piloting a mobile missile," Twyla said. Kioreth gulped, "Or…nah. Anyway, get back to reading."

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

"Mother, take a look at this," Kioreth said. Twyla walked over and her eyes widened as she looked at the section Kioreth was reading.

"I can barely make sense of it."

"I can. It's—I need to speak with your Aunt. You've read the parts you really needed to. The more complex elements require years of experience and training you simply don't have yet. I suggest you use the simulator program Terra provided for you," Twyla said.

"Is everything ok?"

"It might be nothing but I really need to discuss this with your Aunt," Twyla said.

— — — — — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — — — v — — — — vv— — — — — v — — — — — — — v — — — — vv

 _"Terra, are you insane!" Terra looked up to see Twyla in her lab._

 _"Oh, so you found_ that _section then."_

 _"I did. What are you trying to accomplish? Not one engineer in 10,000 years has ever successfully replicated a Lion of Voltron!"_

 _"Father said he wanted a craft without peer made, so I went with what I knew was peerless and then proceeded from there."_

 _"Where did you eve get the readings to even_ ** _think_** _about attempting this?"_

 _"The Red Lion was in our custody for centuries, little sister. Did you not think, in all that time, that I wouldn't have made sure to scan it to try to unlock Altean engineering secrets?" Terra said._

 _"You're trying to mimmic the Red Lion with this?"_

 _"Yes. It's not anywhere near as elegant as its Altean counterparts, but compared to an average ship, Project Night Lion will be more than enough, short of going up against the real Voltron, should Night Lion prove successful, I will make four others to go with Kioreth's lion with his serving as its head," Terra said._

 _"Do you think your imitation will hold up against the real deal?"_

 _"No. I don't, but I can learn and make better and better robots until I manage to make a proper AI like the ones in the lions," Terra said, "This all may backfire on me someday if the AI decides to rebel, but I will achieve the dream someday, somehow."_

 _"If my son ends up hurt because of this—."_

 _"I'd end my own life than willingly kill your cub," Terra said, "He's the only nephew I've got and I'd rather sacrifice the empire than let another niece or nephew die." Twyla sighed._

 _"I'm sorry for jumping on you."_

 _"It's ok, you're a mother. You're supposed to go insane with worry over your cubs," Terra said patting her sister on the shoulder._

* * *

 **MP:** This chapter marks the beginning of the end. This last arc will wrap up everything. It'll be a multi-chapter arc and I can't say that I know how many more chapters will follow, but I can say the conclusion of this arc will conclude Lab Rat.


	18. Sortie

**Summary:**

 _A routine sortie to test out a new prototype is not so routine after all._

* * *

 **Sortie**

Twyla observed her son as he worked through the simulator in what would have been an impressive score for a mere cadet flying a craft such as the Night Lion, but it left a bad taste in her mouth as she realized he competence her son showed with Night Lion was because of his status as the Red Paladin of Voltron. This pseudo-Black Paladin position with this imitation Volron would only bring more harm than good. Especially since as brilliant as her sister was, she had no idea how Terra was even going go about replicating the combination function and power amplification that came with forming Voltron in the first place.

"Captain!" She turned to see it was one of her crewmen: he second in command in fact.

"At ease, Lieutenant Laryal. What do you think?" She asked gesturing to the display that showed the images within the simulation. These were ordinarily disabled unless an instructor needed to be present.

"The pilot is remarkable as is the machine. Are we to service it next?"

"No. This is to be our escort while the prototype is being tested out. The Ensign in question is a very talented pilot. He is also my son," Twyla said.

"Prince Kioreth! But He—."

"Will obey our orders like the well trained cadet he is—was—and should he disobey one of my orders, you will be the one disciplining him as my second in command to avoid any rumors of parental favoritism. He wouldn't even be with us, ordinarily, but Admiral Zari insists that a prototype like this serve both as our escort to deter further attacks of pirates on our convoy and should anything happen, we can all pitch in together to fix it," Twyla said.

"And the fact it's your cub would make you more determined to keep the ship in flying shape."

"Yes. This is project Night Lion. Scientist Terra's latest attempt to replicate Altean technology based on her studies of the Red Lion," Twyla said.

"It looks like a marvelous attempt but lacks a certain elegance."

"My sister said that too."

"She is trying to make us our own Voltron? T8o what end?"

"I'm not sure what she's trying aside from doing this for the pure science of it. The Emperor will be pleased none-the-less should she manage it and is pleased with her progress thus far," Twyla said.

"This could change everything for the universe if your sister cracks the secret."

"Yes. Yes it could."

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

 _Ji-hun flew Red in-between laser bursts while drawing enemy fire to allow the Green Paladin's probe to imitate its hack into the system or something. He was a biologist not engineer, damn it! Though, he also appeared to be a fair pilot. A skill he picked up quickly with Red's help. He and his son finally had something in common aside from their looks. Well, they used to have that in common._

 _"It's a research vessel!" Pidge, said over the comms, "Rover 2 is downloading everything as fast as possible, but they're starting to mount a defense both in space and in cyberspace!" Ji-hun noted that and flew over to help take the pressure off the Yellow Lion and Hunk. The Black Lion was doing by far the most damage to the ship._

 _"Paladins, there is a wormhole inbound!" The display on his screen showed it and out came lightly armored vehicles and a smaller less elegant Black Lion shaped vessel. Voltron, and the Galra ship they'd been bombarding collectively stopped to stare at this new development before it took to attacking the real Black Lion in a vicious, Galra like manner. Typical Galra soldier! Red roared in his mind and he charged at the false-Lion but the pilot turned out to be extremely good and maneuvered way and blasted Red with hot plasma setting off alarms._

 _"Form Voltron!" Allure's command came. Ji-hun trusted these kids (even the twenty-five-year-old was a kid to him) and knew this was what they needed to do. Voltron formed and the imitation didn't stop trying. It even materialized weapons the Red Lion had, albeit in distorted forms._

 _"They based this on the Red Lion!" Pidge said, "They must have had the Red Lion longer than we thought if they were able to make that thing!"_

 _"It can't compare to the real deal!" Lance said. Ji-hun nodded and they sent a blast at the strange vehicle only to have the pilot nimbly dodge._

 _"Geez this Galra can fly!" Hunk said. There was a collective pause._

 _"No. Way." Lance said, "We can't be that lucky!"_

 _"There might be a way to tell for sure," Shiro said, "If we can force the pilot into a situation only Keith could get out of, then we are that lucky."_

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

Kioreth cursed the day he thought a sortie to break in the prototype "Night Lion" would be boring. Oh wait, that was still _today_! Of all the rotten luck to wormhole into a routine repair session for the Research Vessel Kulea, Voltron was there. The lions were both awe-inspiring and nostalgic for him and Kioreth had no idea _why_. He _had_ made the Red Paladin back off a bit, which was odd. The few reports he'd been allowed to see (when Uncle Sinecline would "accidentally" slip coded intelligence reports into Kioreth's assignments) indicated the Red Paladin should be fighting with the intensity of a Galra and this seemed more like an alien's fighting just like the other four lions. Then, Voltron formed. His mother and her crew were counting on him drawing their fire while they repaired the Kulea on the fly enough to take a wormhole without too much damage.

"Hold their attention for five more minutes, Ensign. It shouldn't be hard since they're likely appalled by Night Lion's existence.

"Understood, Captain!" The control panel really needed simplification, he would make sure to note that to Aunt Terra if he got out of this. No. _When_. Galra don't surrender! He urged Night Lion onwards, avoiding the swiped and blasts from Voltron, which his sensor indicated would have ripped through parts of Night Lion as if it were made of the curst of a glorfi tart. His own retaliating damage was surface and enough to annoy the massive robot he was fighting. It didn't help Night Lion was already half the size of the smallest Lion. They were trying to corner him? Why? What would they have to gain. He ignored the flashing indicator that the enemy wanted to talk. He didn't have time or a need to talk to these _aliens_.

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_

 _"Paladins, I am feeling an almost distorted version of the Red Lion's quintessence emanating from that Lion," Allura said._

 _"Makes sense if they copied it," Pidge said, "Think the castle can hack its way into that lion so we can see who's piloting it?"_

 _"You can count on me!" Coran said. The lion's primitive AI fought off the hack as well as it could, but when faced with genuine Altean tech, the defenses fell and Coran opened a channel between the Paladins, the Castle Ship, and this strange creation that identified itself as Night Lion._

 _"You're live, Paladins," Coran said._

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_

Kioreht's eyes widened whenever the communications screen launched itself. He'd been hacked! The faces looking at him seemed surprised?

" _What?_ " he snarled at them

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

 _"It's official. We_ ** _are_** _that lucky," Lance said as everyone stared at the snarling purple face of their missing paladin. There was no recognition in the yellow eyes. Total and utter blank in everything to do with them._

 _"Keith Akira Kogane,_ ** _stop this NOW_** _!" Ji-hun ordered in Korean._

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

Kioreth felt like something was trying to make itself known to him at the sound of that alien language he understood, some how.

"Ensign, we're good to go. Disengage!"

"Yes, Captain!" Kioreth said before he pulled off a complicated maneuver to break free of Voltron and slammed his fist down on the physical disconnect button for his visual comm unit. They made it away before Voltron or that Castle Ship could even think to follow them.

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

With Night Lion docked on the Kulea, Twyla and her fellow engineers were going over the damage and repairing it as best they could. It **was** a prototype after all. When they had the worst of it done so that the self-repair nanites Terra had included as part of the ship's design could work, she stood back and let out a shaky breath.

She'd seen what her son had seen.

She didn't think it would be that hard to see him again, but it was. It broke her heart to not communicate with him but she was supposed to be 100% loyal now, and contacting her alien lover would be against that "programming."

"Permission to speak freely?" She turned to see her cub had joined her.

"Granted Ensign," Twyla said. She was startled by the hug. Then again, her son was like her. She didn't like physical contact unless something had **really** rattled her. Seeing the father erased from his own memories and thought dead alive and flying the Lion that was properly his would rattle him and with the memory block, he had no idea why. Twyla just ran her fingers through his mane.

 _— —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —v_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —_ _—_ _— — —vv_

 _Ji-hun had seen the face that had popped up briefly before Keith had escaped in that thing with the others._

 _Twyla. She hadn't aged a day._

 _"Dude, anyone else see the purple lady?" Lance said once they made it back to the hanger bay._

 _"We all saw her, Lance. You ok?" Hunk asked._

 _"What do you think?" Ji-hun said._

 _"Ok, Keith totally got his anti-social tendencies from both of you," Lance said._

 _"She's rebellion: why didn't she help us get Keith back?" Pidge asked._

 _"You said it; she's rebellion. She can't tip her hand, or she'll be punished," Shiro said._

 _"Though, what was with that knock-off Lion?"_

 _"It is called Night Lion, according to the hack we managed to initiate and it is part of a greater threat. It was flawed, but it is the closest the Galra have ever gotten to fully replicating Altean robotics," Coran said._

 _"We fear that's not where they're going to stop," Allura said._

 _"What, like make their own Voltron?" Lance said. The Alteans' faces said it all._

 _"Quiznak."_

* * *

 **MP:** Sorry for the lateness of this, but family was over and well, it's not a good sign most of the time.


	19. Confusion

_Summary: The encounter with Voltron has left one pilot very, very confused._

* * *

That Alien piloting the Red Lion's face wouldn't leave Kioreth alone. Neither would that name. Keith Akira Kogane. Why did that name sound so…. _right_? It was also a little like the pet name his mother had for him, "Ki'eth." Did that Alien know that somehow and sought to confuse him. He had a brief flash of that man swinging him around in the air, he was a small cub, and he was furless? Kioreth shook his head. That was nonsense! He wasn't some hairless alien, he was a Galra warrior, son of Twyla, Grandson of Zarkon! He needed to train. He climbed off his cot and changed into a loose tunic and pants. They were berthed on the Kuala while the engineers did extensive repairs to the ship, thus, he as escort officer had little to do. Kioreth walked out into the hallways encountering one of the actual crew.

"Which way to the training room?"

"Second level, fifth door on the left. You're that pilot?"

"Ensign Kioreth," Kioreth said saluting the Lieutenant.

"Impressive flying out there. Be sure to apply for the fight corps in the future. Veript Sah."

"Veript Sah."

* * *

Kioreth was half-way through his basic fighting drills whenever the doors opened and his mother joined him.

"Care to take on your dear old mom?" she asked while stretching.

"Is the ship almost fully repaired?" Kioreth asked slipping into a defensive stance.

"For now. We have to let the patches hold for a bit before we can continue working on them," Twyla said. She feinted and nearly caught Kioreth in the gut, but he blocked at the last second and sent a vicious jab to her side which she twirled away from, while grabbing his wrist and flipping him.

"You're distracted, Ki'eth," she said.

"Who was my father?" Kioreth asked. Twyla stopped in mid motion and looked away.

"Your father was from a backwater world," Twyla said, "He was kind and helpful to me after I'd crash-landed."

"What was his name?"

"Vivek. In Galran his name is Vivek," Twyla said.

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know."

* * *

 _Ji-hun practiced a few more sets of sword stances._

 _"Your sword is different than Keith's." It was Shiro._

 _"I should think that my fighting style is different," Ji-hun said._

 _"No kidding! Keith's style is violent and flashy!" Lance said,_

 _"More like unrestrained," Shiro said."I was always telling him "patience yields focus.""_

 _"Good advice," Ji-hun said, "Advice I am having trouble following."_

 _"Because it's your son and sort-of-wife out there?" It was Pidge._

 _"Yes. I worry for Twyla. She is walking a fine line as a rebel and a daughter of Zarkon every waking moment, and should she be discovered, there is no telling what that monster will do to her or our son."_

 _"Paladins, we've discovered something that might help us locate that mockery and get Keith back," Allura said entering the training room._

* * *

 _Twyla double checked the welds before resuming work on the engines/_

 _"Captain, ETA on repairs?"_

 _"A couple vrems and your ship will be back in tip-top shape," Twyla said,_

 _"Excellent. How did your team acquire an Ensign like that to escort you in that ship?"_

 _"Luck and genetics. He's my cub," Twyla said._

 _"Your own cub? That is unusual," the commander of the Kulea said._

 _"My older brother had a hand in this, otherwise, I'd rather my cub was still a cadet," Twyla said._

* * *

Kioreth was doing flight checks once the rest of his mother's crew had given him a heads up that they were ready to depart the Kulea.

"We're headed to our next assignment. The Habitation Modules around Xandar VI are in dire need of repulser repairs," Twyla said over the fleet comms.

"Yes, Captain."

"Everyone's preflight checks in the green?" A chorus of,

"Yes, Captain" was heard.

"Let's get going to the Xandar system."

* * *

 _"Based on their trajectory, they're heading to the Xandar system," Coran said pointing to the system on the display._

 _"Xandar?"_

 _"You know it?"_

 _"It's where the largest Iyurian survivor contingent lives," Ji-hun said._

 _'"With luck we can use this to help get Keith away from the galra," Shiro said._

 _"Then what? He doesn't seem to remember anything?" Pidge said._

 _"We jog his memory anyway we can," Shiro said._

 _"What could possibly go wrong," Hunk said._

* * *

MP:Hello! This was updated early because I felt like it :D

Happy Memorial Day!  
I've replaced the Author's Note, obviously. Enjoy the real chapter 3. I apologize for its brevity.  
Can you guess what movie I've seen recently that I adored? :P  
Thanks for everyone who've stuck with me during this.

PS I got a 4.0 for the Spring Semester ^_^

PSS After this week's early update, Lab Rat will resume its Wednesday update schedule.


	20. Rendez-vous

_**Summary:** Two forces collide on Xandar. The Lost is found, but are they really?_

* * *

Xandar. Not only was it one of the more populated hubs in the system, they were also the ones whose people posed the greatest threat to Galran supremacy, or so the propaganda of the Galra Government said. Kioreth observed the planet and its various settlements from the cockpit of Night Lion. His mother's crew had already landed, but his prototype had to be kept a secret from even the civilians of the Galran Empire, lest word get out about a pseudo-Lion of Voltron before Project Phantom Zone was ready to be unveiled, with Kioreth and Night Lion being the centerpiece. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Then there was that Red Paladin. His face would not leave Kioreth alone. He'd never seen that alien, or any other like him before, right? Not having his memories was proving to be far too troublesome.

"Ensign, do you copy?" It was his mother.

"Yes, Captain," he said.

"I'm flying a cargo shuttle up into orbit. Buail le with me," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," Kioreth said. He saw the approaching cargo ship with its docking bay doors shut, allowing him to exit the cockpit of Night Lion. Twyla was waiting for him.

"When we're on the surface of Xandar it is of paramount importance that you do not address me as mother," she said, "Also, don't be alarmed if you're called cross-breed."

"But we're not," Kioreth.

"Not in the ways it counts," Twyla said, "Druid potential is actually an indicator of an Altean ancestor. Not all of Altea betrayed us, and many joined with us to the point the Coast Galra exist in the numbers that they do. In fact, the higher the Altean cross, the higher the potential. My mother was a high Altean cross by ancestry."

"We've been descendants of Altea this whole time?" Kioreth said. He felt horrified for some reason.

"Don't make that face, cub. It's a hidden secret amongst us with white manes and hair on Doom." Twyla crossed her arms, "Don't forget, your favorite uncle is a direct cross." Uncle Sinecline.

"Yes, but so is my least favorite uncle," Kioreth said.

"Smart cea," Twyla said. She messed up the mane between his ears, forcing him to fix it, "You've got something on your face, cub. Eating in the cockpit again even after your Aunt Terra said not to?"

"What are you talking about?" Kioreth said. Twyla licked a finger before she rubbed at his right cheek and then the left one. Her eyes widened and she stopped.

"What is it?"

"You've gained facial marks. Red ones," she said.

"What? But—."

"It happens sometimes," Twyla said, "I know my mother was hoping mine would manifest and was bitterly disappointed when that didn't happen."

"I don't have to be a druid, do I?" Kioreth said. He had an irrational fear of them too. Something that, apparently, was another side effect of his accident.

"Of course not. You can chose to do whatever you want. Don't let Malior or Arriora pressure you into it. I'd prefer you weren't anywhere near the front lines but you're one ifreanne of a pilot," Twyla said.

* * *

 _"Can we really trust these Iyurians after your uncle lied to you about Keith?" Lance said._

 _"My uncle is only one person, not the whole of Iyruian survivors," Ji-hun said._

 _"There have been a crew of galra led by a white haired female with the ears of a shpinrx on planet for several tirems," an Iyurian said. His violet eyes seemed to bore holes into Lance's skull._

 _"Was she accompanied by a cub?" Allura said._

 _"Not that we saw, however, she departed with a cargo shuttle not long ago, and our sources have spotted it returning."_

 _"She must have gone to get Keith," Shiro._

 _"I bet it's so that their knock-off lion doesn't spark a panic," Pidge said. Matt and Sam Holt were lost in the whole discussion._

 _"Why would that lion he was flying cause a panic?" Sam asked._

 _"Voltron is a big deal. Imagine the panic that would spread across the galaxy should it ever come out that the Galra Empire was getting even remotely close to replicating its technological might," Shiro said._

 _"It'd be like a herd of panicking gulirans!" Coran said._

 _"So, really bad," Hunk said._

 _"Even if you snatch back your friend, what if they just assign some other Galra to fly it?" Matt said._

 _"Then we take it out," Shiro said. His face was grim, but there would be no other alternative. There could be no way this replica Voltron could be allowed to exist._

* * *

Kioreth had to change out of his pilot's uniform and put on a spare engineering uniform. A cadet pilot was unheard of, but a cadet engineer was common practice. The only reason Twyla's corps didn't have any cadets with them was because of a direct request on her part not to deal with half trained cubs. Playing the Princess card sometimes was to her advantage.

"If anyone asks, we're not directly related," Twyla said. Kiroeth nodded, "I'm trusting you. Be back at the hanger by dinner time and you'll be allowed to roam Xandar during the day while we're here fixing the Galra-Xandarian fleet's ships."

"Understood!" Kioreth said. He was being given leave on an alien world _without_ his mother, or any family leaning over his shoulder.

"While you're out, be sure to place these orders to keep up the illusion you're out little cadet," Twyla said handing him a data pad and a credit tab, "There's extra there that's equal to your mission pay. Have fun, and observe all local laws, unless some lowlives threaten you, then fight like a Galra."

"I'm not an infant," Kioreth said.

"You'll always be a baby to me," Twyla said. Kioreth's cheeks heated up before he ran off.

—

The Xandarian city of Nova was massive. He found the right places to order the parts as he was asked. The mechanics who saw him gave him sympathetic looks.

"I was the low man on the totem pole once, it gets better kid," the last one said. Kioreth nodded politely. He was getting to explore as he pleased, this was awesome. First thing was first. He was starving. There was some sort of meat for sale nearby. The alien selling it looked a little like the alien Red Paladin. He shook his head.

"How much for the meat?" he asked in Standard.

"40 GAC for four," the alien said. Kioreth handed him the tab and took his food with a bow. _Why had he done that_? He looked around the city nibbling on the meat, observing all the aliens. There weren't very many weapon shops in the main area, though.

"What're you looking at, _masc_!" Kioreth bristled. Even though he'd been warned, that pejorative still made his fur bush up. He looked at the speaker. A Desert Galra.

"If your nose wasn't so pathetic, you'd be able to smell I was 100% Jungle with Druid potential!" Kioreth snarled.

"A fancy term for a _masc_!" Kioreth's ears flattened as he dropped his remaining skewer and drew the crest blade, deliberately concealing the crest.

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy there!" The pair turned to see a strangely dressed alien man. He looked like a pirate's closet had thrown-up on him with that cape and those shoulder pads and was that an eyepatch? "You looking to bring the Nova Corps down on our heads? It'll certainly not be a picnic!"

"He's not worth it, Kormac!" The Galra and his buddies walked away. Kiroeth sheathed his dagger.

"I could have taken them," he said.

"I'm sure you could have, bit young to be alone, aren't you?"

"I can take care of myself!" Kioreth said.

"Let me get you something to replace that food you lost," the alien man said. Kioreth sniffed at him. There was something familiar about the scent, and yet completely foreign to him. A noise caused him to realize he was surrounded by other aliens. Including the Red Paladin. It was an ambush. Kioreth snarled before something shot out and tazed him. As he lay twitching, fighting to regain control of his limbs, a sharp jab to his neck made the world spin and go dark.

* * *

 _"Geesh! I thought his temper was bad_ ** _before_** _he became all amnesia-y," Lance said._

 _"What that man called him was a very derogatory word," Coran said, "Most galra would have already been brawling at being called that before we had a chance to get into position."_

 _"What does it mean?" Hunk said._

 _"Half-breed," Ji-hun and Shiro said._

 _"Keith was born a hybrid, though, if they erased his memories, then all memory being changed from a hybrid to a pure breed would have also been lost and he's been in their culture long enough for this to have been a thing," Pidge said._

 _"We have to move quickly, we have no idea how it'll take for his companions to realize he's missing," Shiro said. Ji-hun slung Keith over his shoulder, carefully and they ran down the back alleys of the city of Xandar following a group of Iyurian guides posted throughout the city._

 _"Allura, we have him. We're going to meet up with the ship in ten minutes," Shiro said._

 _"Alright, I will be on standby with a worm hole._

* * *

Kioreth opened his eyes and was confused by his surroundings. Then it came rushing back. He was in a small room, of sorts, and the marks on the floor indicated it hadn't been used. The air also smelled partly stale. The problem was there was only a door out and a sort of overcoat in the corner that appeared to be made up as a bed. It was a cell. **_Focail_**!

* * *

 **MP** : I raided Gaelic for the swears and other extra language elements.

 **cea** : ass

 **buail le** : Rendez-vous/meet-up/

 **masc** : half-breed, but it's the Galra version of the "n" word.

 **focail** : one of the Galran F-bombs

 **ifreanne** : hell

Also, as you can see, I reconciled the bombshell about Haggar with my universe's canon.

—


	21. Remediation

**Summary** :

 _Team Voltron has their original Red Paladin back, except this time as a prisoner. How can they convince him that they're actually on the same side?_

* * *

Kioreth stared at his cell walls and snarled. How could he have been so careless! When his mother got him out of this, he'd be grounded until he had cubs of his own. Then there was his grandfather's reaction. The only grandson of Zarkon, he was looked at as a sort of crown jewel. He'd be rescued and his kidnappers would be sorry.

Then he was disgusted at himself for that thought.

 **He didn't need to be rescued**! He'd rescue himself. Kioreth had made the mistake of thinking Xandar was safe. He'd never make that mistake again! He needed to calm down.

Patience yields focus.

 **Wha-Where had that come from**? Whatever, it was good advice. Kioreth took a breath in to calm down his temper. He'd save that for his captors. The room his cell was in was not always a cell. It was too long and skinny. This meant that this was probably a storage room of sorts. He had also been kidnapped by the Paladins of Voltron. Ergo, he was on their Castleship. A castleship with the ability to wormhole. Great. That meant he was probably half the galaxy away from Xandar at this point. That also meant the door lock would be easier to hack open. He reached for his blade and it was gone. Of course they'd take the comrictain blade! Foca, that was a pain. Kioreth found the door and noticed the interior release had recently been removed and hastily at that. Kioreth pried the covering panel off and looked at the mess of wires. He found the blue ones, because Sinecline told him it was always the blue ones, and twisted them together to cause the door to slide open with a zap to his hands. _Son of a_ — He was free!

Kioreth stuck his head out into the halls and had no idea where to go. The air was eerily void of any scents, including his own. He took a few steps down the hall only for the Blue and Yellow Paladins to be standing there waiting in full armor along with a training robot. What? He charged them, dodging their attempts to stop him and he was blindsided by the droid. He kicked it away and ducked a grab from the Yellow Paladin and used his momentum to flip the Paladin. They were speaking but he didn't understand what they were saying. Kioreth swept the Blue Paladin's leg out from under him. He heard a noise and turned his head, but it was too late. The Green paladin zapped him, again, and he was injected with a sedative.

* * *

 _"I wonder if Twyla taught him that," Ji-hun said. He inspected the wires of the inside of the door._

 _"They've had him for a month. Who knows what he's been taught," Sam said._

 _"I'd hate to actually put him in the brig, but I don't know how we can contain him," Coran said._

 _"Smart move on using Spanish," Ji-hun said._

 _"It's because we know Keith doesn't speak it," Shiro said._

 _"That's what that was?" Allura said._

 _"Why wouldn't Keith understand that language?" Coran said._

 _"On Earth, there are many different dialects and languages. It just so happens that Keith chose to learn different languages than the rest of us," Shiro said._

 _"What does he speak?" Ji-hun asked._

 _"Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and English, and apparently Galran now," Shiro said._

 _"Why didn't you jump in?" Lance said._

 _"Because, you guys need practice fighting an angry Galra," Shiro said._

 _"Yeah, but now what? He's already shown he can escape," Pidge said._

 _"We're going to need to keep him in a cyrotube," Coran said, "Like we did that Sendak fellow."_

 _"He's never going to trust us if we do that," Ji-hun said._

 _"I hate to say it, but he could nearly throw **Hunk** with minimal effort. Keith's too strong to be treated with any less caution," Shiro said._

* * *

Kioreth awoke and this time he was in a tube with no way out. The Red Paladin was outside.

"Keith."

"Why do you call me that!" Kioreth snarled.

"Because it's what you were named! You're Keith Akira Kogane. You were born on April 10, 2023, on Earth. Your mother is Captain Twyla, but you were born my son as well."

"You lie!" Kioreth said.

"I would not lie about this, Keith!"

"My name is not Keith!"

"It's not Kioreth either!"

"You can't be my father because I'm not a hybrid!" Kioreth said.

"You used to be until a druid got a hold of you and twisted you!"

"That's ridiculous! No druid can do that!"

"Don't you find it odd that you have not memories?"

"I was in an accident!"

"Really? Then explain the fact that you have no scars from it and there is no evidence of your dead fellow cadets."

"What do you mean by that! Are you saying they lied to me? They're my family!"

"They're also the ruling family of an empire you were fighting. They took your memories away to make you more malleable. You're mother's too."

"You lie!"

"If I'm lying, how are we speaking Japanese right now?" Kioreth blinked before he realized Ji-hun was right. They were speaking another language.

" **If they were telling you the truth, then your wouldn't understand Korean either**."

"Stop it."

" **You speak this language with more ease and familiarity than Galran, don't you**?"

"Stop it!"

" **It's because this was the language I spoke to to you as a baby. This was the first language you learned**."

" **Stop it**!" Kioreth shook his head and there was an image of Ji-hun younger and handing him his crest blade, but he got that from his mother! He screamed from the pain in his head before he passed out.

* * *

 _"What happened?" Coran had arrived._

 _"I forced him to realize he could still speak Japanese and Korean, which meant he'd been lied to whenever he started screaming and grabbing his head," Ji-hun said. Allura rushed up to the pod and placed a hand on it, closing her eyes._

 _"What's she doing?" Ji-hun said._

 _"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with Keith," she said. Her eyes snapped open, "It's a block."_

 _"Can you remove it?" Ji-hun asked._

 _"I can try," Allura said. She closed her eyes but opened them, "I'd need direct contact with him."_

 _"Is that safe?" Matt said. He'd just arrived._

 _"I'm more than a match for Keith, even like this," Allura said. Coran pressed the side panel and Keith's body flopped out. Ji-hun barely caught him. Though, Keith was now taller than even his father. He rearranged Keith so he was holding him in a less constricted way. He moved some of Keith's mane out of his face._

 _"Question, why is his hair white now?" Matt said._

 _"We can figure that out later," Allura said. She placed her hand on Keith's forehead and closed her eyes._

* * *

 _She found herself in a blank space. In the middle of the room was Keith holding his head._

 _"Keith, I'm here to help," Allura said._

 _"I'm not Keith!" he said. Allura placed a hand on the ground, for lack of a better term, and energy surged out from her hand revealing a locked up building._

 _"If you'll got there, you'll find out who you are," Allura said._

 _"I know who I am!" Keith turned away from her. He started walking away._

 _"Do you?" Keith faltered. He turned back. "If you want the truth, you must undo that lock."_

* * *

Kioreth saw the Altean woman vanished. Princess Allura. He approached the door and the lock pulsed. He saw the image of a druid. He drew back, shaking. He tried again. It was Uncle Malior? This meant….he had to break that lock! Kioreth reached for his blade and touched empty air. Right. He slammed his fist against the door, which made the frame shake a little. He continued to attack the door. A memory escaped.

"So, if I can't brainwash you or overwrite your memories, I can do something that you might be able to undo on your own someday, if you're lucky. I'm just going to lock these memories away." Malior said.

 _Why had his Uncle Malior locked his memories away. Why would he be avoiding brainwashing him! Why would he even need to be brainwashed in the first place?_

Only one way to find out. Others kept telling him he had druid potential. It was time to finally try using that potential. He focused on the lock and exerted his will. The lock disintegrated and the door was flung open, the next he knew was more pain.

* * *

 **MP** :It's Wednesday!

Galran vocabulary

Foca: shit

comrictain: Galran f-bomb


	22. Recognition

Yellow eyes snapped open taking in the room. It was his room. It _smelled_ like his room. Keith sat up holding his head. Last thing he remembered, they were on that planet Larsh-somehing VII, and—Everything came rushing back. Keith stumbled into his bathroom and saw that his mane was white and there really were marks on his face. It wasn't a dream. He really had been captured by—by his family for a month. It had felt like so much longer than a month! His aunts and uncles, even Zarkon, they'd—His mother! She—she was going to be so worried and with her own brainwashing—wait a second, if his Uncle Malior, his _rebel_ Uncle was behind that, could she also have not been—. Keith shook his head again. There's no way he was that lucky. His memories of the past month were slightly out of phase. It almost felt like another person. His ear twitched whenever the door to his room slid open.

"Keith?" **_What!_** Keith clumsily ran out and it was.

"Appa?" Keith knew what his nose was telling him, what his eyes were telling him, but-but—. Ji-hun Kogane was there, **_alive_**. Keith was frozen by his shock, but his father wasn't because he grabbed Keith into a hug that he was stiff in for a moemnt before he hugged his father back, crying a little.

"Careful, young one, you're a lot stronger than you used to be," his father wheezed. Keith let go, as if burned, "Don't be like that. I don't care what you look like, you're my son: purple or pink. I fell in love with your mother, after all, and she is very purple."

"Where were you?" Keith asked.

"I thought you were dead," Ji-hun said.

"I was told you were dead," Keith said.

"My Uncle orchestrated this to keep me away from you," Ji-hun said, "It doesn't matter anymore."

"But it does! Why would he—."

"He knew what your mother was," Ji-hun said. Keith felt cold. Even when he'd presented as human, his Galran heritage had still been held against him.

"She still misses you," Keith said, "She doesn't say it, but I'd see her watching other couples while I was…."

"Away," Ji-hun said, "The others will want to see you."

"After how hard I fought against them?" Keith asked.

"They knew it wasn't your fault," Ji-hun said.

* * *

Keith was surprised to see that it wasn't just Allura, Coran, and the other Paladins but the Holts as well.

"Keith! You are Keith right now, right?" Hunk was the first one up. Keith nodded. That was all Hunk needed before he grabbed Keith into a tight hug. Pidge, Lance, and Shiro joined him.

"Keith, meet my family! Dad, Matt, meet Keith!" Pidge had let go and gestured between them.

"Nice to meet you," Keith said. He felt very out of place. He was a Galra and they were captured by his…people.

"Nice to meet you too. Don't worry, Katie explained about your…"situation." Dr. Sam Holt. Call me Sam." Keith nodded.

"So, why's your hair all white and what's with the marks on your face?" Lance pointed to his own hair and face.

"I'm not sure really, but it's because…it's because it turns out my mother's family has Altean ancestors. All Druids do," Keith said. Allura and Coran both gasped.

"Alteans like— _oh_ ," Lance said.

"Were they prisoners or….." Pidge trailed off.

"Or. They…they sided with the Galra against the rest of Altea," Keith couldn't look Coran and Allura in the eyes.

"So, your hair and marks are an Atavism," Coran said, "As well as your quintessence sensitivity?" Keith nodded.

"If we didn't throw you off the team before, why are you acting like we're going to now?" Shiro said, "It doesn't matter who your family is or was, you're Keith and you're our Red Paladin."

"But—."

"I was always just a temp. Red and I both agreed on that," Ji-hun said reaching up and messing with Keith's ears.

"Dude! How come you swatted my hands for that but not him?" Lance said.

"He's my Dad."

"I'm his Dad." Keith and his father blinked at the unison speech but gave Lance identical bland looks.

"Gah! They're multiplying!"

* * *

"Keith, do you have a moment?" Keith stopped midswing with his bayard. He'd missed this so much and hadn't even known it!

"Yes?" Coran had walked in.

"That ship you piloted. Was it the only one?" Coran asked.

"At the moment. My-My aunt was working on more," Keith said.

"Your Aunt is the one who made that thing?" Coran looked surprised. Keith nodded.

"Aunt Terra. She's more into the science of it than the war applications," Keith said, "She was upset it lacked the "elegance" of Altean technology."

"Do you know how soon they're going to make the others?" Shiro had joined them.

"I'm not sure. I was chosen to be the test pilot of their Black Lion, Night Lion, but with me…"captured" I'm not sure who that will fall to now," Keith said.

"Whoever it is, they won't be anywhere near as good a pilot as the previous guy," Shiro said messing up Keith's hair.

* * *

 _Twyla acted appropriately distraught over her son's capture by "those terrible Paladins." It's a good thing she already established that she preferred to throw herself into her work to bury her feelings before this happened. Though, she was still his mother. She still worried. What if he couldn't break Malior's seal? What if he never got his true memories back?_

 _"Captain, General Zari wishes to speak with you," it was a random underling that Twyla didn't even bother paying attention to their face. She set her tools down and looked up at Night Lion. Time to face the audience._

* * *

 _Zari didn't speak at first, simply walking over and drawing her into a tight embrace._

 _"I am sorry," he said._

 _"It was my fault. I let him wander around Xandar—." Twyla stopped whenever Malior came out from behind a screen along with—Sinecline?_

 _"The room is secure," Zaerif had shown up locking the door behind her._

 _"What's going on here! What's the meaning of—."_

 _"Keep your voice down, Twy or you'll blow our covers," Sinecline said. Twyla's jaw dropped._

 _"All_ ** _you,_** _all this time—You never even tried to reach out to me!"_

 _"Twyla, you're my sister and I love you, but you've got the worst Se'nat Face in the known universe," Zaerif said._

 _"This is an operation centuries in the making, Twy. We've had to be ever so careful the whole time lest we be caught," Sinecline said._

 _"But you're—."_

 _"One of his eldest, yes. I remember the man he_ ** _was_** _before he became….this. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't my father, merely the marbah he became," Sinecline said._

 _"You're willing to go against the others?" Twyla said._

 _"You were." Zari pointed right at her._

 _"But why now?" Twyla asked._

 _"Because, now we've seen that we cannot allow Voltron, or Terra's little copy of it, stay in father's hands or end up in hands. The Known Universe cannot take much more of this," Malior said._

 _"Are you going to sabotage Terra?" Twyla was horrified._

 _"No. That would require Terra being loyal to father," Sinecline said._

 _"Her too?" Twyla said._

 _"I've been working on flipping as many of us as possible for centuries, Twy. You'll find the list of us who are actually loyal to father is a lot shorter than the list of his children who are rebels. We've also had enough of this, and we want to atone for the crimes done by the House of Zarkon," Sinecline said, "You can continue to do your own thing and let Malior purge this from your mind, or you can join us, at last. What do you say?" Twyla stood for a few moments looking down before she looked up with an evil grin on her face._

 _"As they say on Earth,_ ** _fuck_** _yeah."_

* * *

 **MP** : Fresh off my keyboard, it's Chapter 6 (only slightly late. I had life happen so yeah).

I always intended for more of Twyla's siblings to actually be rebels too.


	23. Rectification

Summary: Keith is still trying to adjust to all the changes in his life and his heart. Some father-son bonding time might do the trick.

Too bad life isn't going to let them.

Within the Galran Empire, Project Phantom Zone moves ahead with a new pilot for Night Lion.

* * *

Keith squared off against his father in training gear.

" ** _Shiro's told me that you have had sword training on Earth, and I know that you were trained while the empire had you. Let's see how you hold up against an Iyurian blade master_** ," Ji-hun said.

"Hey! Stop trash-talking in Korean! The audience would like to know what's being said!" Lance complained.

" _How about Galran_?" Keith made the tone sound worse than what he'd actually said, so Lance scowled at him more. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

"Keith, quit messing with Lance. Lance, he didn't actually insult you. I speak enough Galran for that," Shiro rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Can we just get on with this sparring match?" Keith nodded. Both had training blades instead of live metal weapons. That would have only ended in tears.

"Go!" Coran said. Both Keith and Ji-hun sprung into action. Pidge was just watching with wide eyes.

"This is just like the Super Samurai Anime!" they gasped.

"Is not!" Matt said.

"Kids, not now!" Sam Holt said.

"Keith held back when he tried to escape," Hunk said after a vicious blow sent Ji-hun stumbling.

"Only because he has the cheat of being an alien," Lance muttered.

"You don't have any problems with Allura," Shiro said, "Ji-hun must have fought Galra before."

"Kind of hard not to when they're out conquering the Known Universe," Lance said.

Keith barely blocked a kick Ji-hun had sent at him and was forced to bend out of the way of a slice that would have slashed some of his fur off, had that been an actual blade. Keith lashed out with a kick but it was anticipated and Ji-hun managed to pin him.

"Never assume your strength means you'll win," Ji-hun said. He let Keith up who nodded.

"You're going to have to teach me that," Keith said.

"Of course." It was difficult for Keith to look at Ji-hun not only because he was still having trouble getting used to the fact he wasn't an orphan at all, but because Ji-hun's face reminded him of the life he no longer had.

* * *

Keith found a photo of the team a short time before the Wormhole had split them up. He almost didn't recognize his past self. Less than half a year he'd been like this and he was forgetting his old face. Who would he be in a year? Two years? More? Would he even remember what it was like to be…well not exactly human but to be less Galra: to be at human limits? Keith gripped the edges of the sink as he looked down before he was forced to let go when he heard worrying groans in the metal.

"You alright in there?" Keith exited the bathroom and saw his father was sitting on his bed.

"I….don't know," Keith said.

"Looking at you right now, I'm reminded of your mother," Ji-hun said. Keith snorted.

"Cut the attitude; it's not a bad thing," Ji-hun gave him a look.

"Yes, Appa," Keith said. Even after eleven years apart, his reflexive response of "Yes, Appa." was still as close to the surface as ever.

"I get it. The…others filled me in on what was done to you, though, your hair in the photos they showed me was darker," Ji-hun said.

"I think…one of my-my uncles might have been behind that. The Druid. He…wasn't a fan of the druid who did this to me. Called her work "sloppy" and her a "butcher." He'd mentioned mistakes in my genome she'd made," Keith said remembering the hazy memory of Malior just before he'd locked Keith's memories away.

"It's alright to love them, you know," Ji-hun said.

"Wh-What?"

"My Uncle lied to me, left you to die, and even though I'm pissed off at him for costing me eleven years of your life, he's still my Uncle and I still care about him," Ji-hun said, "I'm probably not going to speak to him again until he apologizes, though."

"But they didn't love me. They loved the idea," Keith said.

"Doubtful. You really don't understand Galra culture. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, Galra love their families. That's why your mother could never bring herself to open rebellion. Even though her mother is a staunch loyalist and complicit in many crimes against nature and sentient beings, she still loves her and her other siblings. Honestly, we should still be on the move because of how possessive Galra tend to be when it comes to their family members. _Especially_ their cubs." That was when the alarm was set off.

"Intruder in the Castleship!" Coran's voice came over the frequency. Keith and Ji-hun burst out, Keith had his bayard in hand as he ran to follow the sounds of the commotion.

* * *

Keith arrived to see Lance and Hunk and already been taken out by this dual wielding intruder. He smelled Galran. Keith narrowed his eyes and stood ready for the attacker who nodded before engaging Keith. He was outmatched by he gave his all. That's when Ji-hun leapt over him, blades drawn and engaged the intruder and Keith who staggered up realized that his dad had seriously held back. The fight ended once Shiro joined and the combatant backed off. He removed his helmet and Shiro gasped.

"Who are you?" Shiro demanded.

"I'm Ulaz of the Blade of Marmorra."

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, you helped Shiro escape, this Blade group is separate from whatever group _his_ mom was part of, but you guys occasionally help them because you have the same goals, but you don't let on that you're helping them?" Lance said.

"That is correct. The Rebellion Cells are far too fractious to trust but time is no longer on our side," Ulaz said.

"Project Phantom Zone," Keith said.

"Precisely," Ulaz said.

'What's project Phantom Zone?" Hunk asked.

"It's not a projector that banishes people to another realm, is it?" Pidge asked.

"No! that would be barbaric even for the Galran Empire," Ulaz said.

"It's their code name for the knock-off Voltron Night Lion was part of," Keith said.

"How do you know that?" Lance asked.

"It was in the manual." Keith shrugged at Lance.

"I thought human males never read manuals for anything," Sam Holt said.

"Not exactly human anymore, am I?" Keith said.

"You never were, really," Ji-hun replied, "Well, maybe a quarter."

"Anyway, how do we know we can trust him when Shiro barely remembers him?" Hunk said.

"We already know not all Galra are bad," Keith said.

"Fine, but it'll be a lot of faith we're using," Allura said.

* * *

 _Twyla was surprised by her summons by her father, but that was mostly because, unless it had to do with her cub, her work was not his priority._

 _"I understand these times are trying for you. It is never easy to be bereft of a cub," Zarkon said placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort._

 _"It's easier if I'm working on something," Twyla said. Her acting was excellent: her tone was dead and she wasn't shuddering at the touch of a genocidal maniac._

 _"Perhaps I can help you channel your pain and work towards rescuing the cub," Zarkon said._

 _"F-father?" Twyla looked up at him startled._

 _"No ordinary pilot can handle a prototype as raw as Night Lion, which is why I entrust this honor to you. The hopes and dreams of the future of Galran supremacy rest in what you do with this Lion. I know you will do me proud."_

 _"Of course I will," Twyla replied._

* * *

 _"Terra! You're dead!"_

 _"Wha?" Terra was buried, literally, in metal scraps._

 _"How dare you volunteer me for this!" Twyla yelled._

 _"Keep the roaring down to just barely deafening, thanks."_

 _"Zari."_

 _"With you at the helm for Project Phantom Zone, things can go according to plan," Zari said._

 _"Plan—you son of a—."_

 _"Hey! If you're gonna fight, you're gonna do it else where. Now both of you get out of my lab!"_

 _"We're sending Herra in soon, aren't we?" Twyla asked Zari once they left._

 _"She's already on the way with Merra as back-up," Zari said._

 _"You really think I'm good enough?" Twyla said._

 _"Of course. Also, your temperament is the most like your cub's so, whatever proto-sentience is there will accept you."_

 _"You're the hind quarters of a Garultinas!"_

* * *

 **MP:** Hello!  
Late again and also due to life happening. This time it was tagging along to make sure my dad made it back safe and sound as a back up driver.

Also, I apologize for the lack of beta-ing this has. I actually don't have a beta, but I usually do a comb through of my own work to catch bugs but it's after 3 AM and the fic is late enough as it is.

Yep. Twyla was always who I had in mind for Night Lion (though, this was sort of spoiled for anyone who read the one shot set in a direct parallel universe I also have posted on here).  
From here on out, I will be working Season 2 elements into this fic, only where S2 had the possibility for more, I'm going to end it. Hence, there will be seven more chapters of Lab Rat before it's finished.  
The end is in sight.  
It's been one hell of a ride with seven chapters still ahead.


	24. Reflection

Everyone was doing their thing.

Hunk had baked….cookies of questionable hardness. Pidge was attempting to learn Altean from a rather….scary hologram. The Holt men and Ji-hun were poking at something that looked like a mess of wires. They'd had to worm hole away from the Galra twice, so trying to relax was the order of the moment

Until the Galra attacked. The Paladins rushed to their battle stations leaving the Holt men and Ji-hun to take cover elsewhere in the ship.

"Deploy the drones," Allura ordered. Keith and Lance clashed a little.

"Get out of my way!"

"No, you get our of my way!"

"Enough!" Shiro yelled.

"We can worm hole!" Allura said. She punched it and they made it through.

"They keep finding us. How?" Lance looked at Keith.

"Why are you looking at me?" Keith growled.

"Probably because your mom's family is insane and they happen to be the would be rulers of the universe?" Lance said.

"They're not tracking Keith," Ji-hun said arriving in the cockpit.

"How do you know that?" Hunk asked, "Couldn't a druid find him or something?"

"If I wasn't with him, maybe," Ji-hun said.

"Really?" Keith said.

"Trick I learned from the other Iyruians, but it only really works with blood relatives," Ji-hun said.

"Uh-huh, so, can only Iyurians do this or can others learn how to do it?" Pidge asked.

"I'm sure that the Princess could pick it up," Ji-hun said. He took a step and slipped in something. Keith barely caught him. The liquid trail led to Coran.

"Are you sweating?" Hunk asked.

"Nah, I'm just fine," Coran said.

"Are you sure, it looks like you've got a case of the sliperies," Allura said.

"I do not! The Slipperies is an old person's disease!" Coran crossed his arms and splashed at the other Paladins who dodged back. Ji-hun raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we go take a look at things," Ji-hun said, "Pidge, want to join us?"

* * *

"….He threw us out whenever we pointed mentioned the Slipperies again," Pidge said once everyone was back on the bridge. The Holts and Ji-Hun were in a heap in the back from not finding a set in time. Lance was in swim trunks, and soaking wet. Keith was also sopping wet, and becuase he was covered in fur, he made a trail of water to his part of the command center. Their warp had been…aborted. That' s when Coran combed up,

"Found out problem! Turns out the teledov's lenses are cracked. Also, I might actually have the slipperies," Coran said as he skated about.

"Do we have any spare scaultrite?" Ji-hun asked standing.

"'Fraid not," Coran said. Pidge rubbed their jaw.

"I saw that word earlier!"

* * *

"Hunk's cookies?" Matt asked. Coran inspected the disks.

"Not quite right, but they can work!" Coran said. Ji-hun gave him an arched eyebrow.

* * *

"Now don't move or the lasers will definitely kill you," Coran said after he'd arranged the disks. Everyone was in position, even the Holts and Ji-hun.

"What!" Lance said.

"Everyone ready?" Allura asked from the deck.

"Ready!" Coran said. That was when he noticed the disks weren't quite shiny enough. How could he—oh! Coran skated through and at the last few moments managed to use his slipperies to make the temporary disks shiny enough for the laser and just managed to get out of the way for the lasers and they finally made it safely away from Zarkon and his forces. Barely.

* * *

"They managed to fix whatever problem it was that was ending their warps prematurely," Zari remarked as he looked over the data recovered from the main fleet. Being part of Project Phantom Zone, they were to drill as much as possible.

"If I had to guess, their lenses are cracked in their teledov," Twyla said looking things over.

"That means they're going to need sculltrite. Hope they can buy it. I'd hate to see what would happen if they went up against a weblum," Sinecline said.

"Like you've ever done it."

"Actually, baby sis, I have," Sinecline said.

"Let me guess, it was a dare from Lotor?" Twyla asked.

"Actually it was me," Zari replied.

"Zari? Wow, you think you know a guy," she said.

"Keep it up and I'll regret making you Night Lion."

"You have no choice. It bonded to me because of my cub."

"It's not that advanced yet." Terra had arrived, "If I'm going to have a hope of making it better, I'm going to need better data on Voltron."

"I'll see what I can do," Sinecline said before nodding to the others.

* * *

Keith looked out the view port. Had they found them because of him, or was his father really shielding him.

You have an Aunt and an Uncle who are Druids as well as you grandmother a nasty voice reminded him and just because he was sort of sure the one was a rebel, meant nothing if the others were after him too.

* * *

MP: Sorry it's so short. It's been a while since I've seen the episode and I don't have a Nextflix anymore.


	25. Space Mall

Summary:

Team Voltron goes to the mall!  
This time with even more adult supervision, but somehow, that doesn't help matters.

* * *

"Don't suppose you know of any Iyurian tricks for fixing cracked scaultrite?" Coran asked Ji-hun as he inspected the discs.

"No. Afraid that's a myth. We're _metal_ workers, we don't mess with scaultrite," he said.

"So, we're screwed if we want to use the teledov?" Lance was leaning on a nearby control unit. The rest of Voltron was upstairs in the common room, but Lance was bored and followed Ji-hun and Coran down there.

"Perhaps a traders moon?" Coran said. Ji-hun burst out laughing.

"What's so funny about that?" Coran asked.

"Those are nothing more than glorified malls. I mean, there might be an antique store there, but it would be the minority," Ji-hun explained wiping away a tear.

"There are space malls?" Lance asked.

"Why wouldn't there be?" Ji-hun said. In that moment he really looked like Keith with that semi-confused look on his face.

"I've gotta go tell the others!" Lance raced off leaving the adults to blink at the speed he displayed.

"Are malls a big deal on Earth?" Coran asked.

"Sort of, if you're into that sort of thing. Perhaps a bit of normality, even if it's full of space culture, is what they need," Ji-hun said.

* * *

"I'm going to bond with Black," Shiro said once the Mall trip was organized. Ji-hun, Coran, and Sam Holt were the official Chaperones for this trip. Matt wasn't an adult-y enough adult to count.

"Alright," Ji-hun said.

"We'll need to dress the part!" Coran said. He was wearing a ridiculous outfit. Ji-hun laughed again.

"No. What we have is fine. A bit old fashioned, but retro is cool in space too," Ji-hun said waving off the outlandish things Coran was wearing.

"Can't this be retro cool too," he pouted.

"Sure, loose the eye patch."

* * *

"How did we already loose the kids?" Ji-hun asked Sam as they walked around the space mall, calmly.

"Beats me, but if I had to guess, my kids found the nearest game store," Sam said.

"Keith probably found the nearest blade store," Ji-hun mused.

"Hunk and Lance?" Sam asked.

"I thought I saw a yellow blur go that way, but Lance might have gone with Matt and Pidge," Ji-hun said.

"Halt!" Ji-hun turned to see it was a Mall Cop Galra.

"Hello," Ji-hun said.

"Did you lose some sub-adults?" the Galra demanded.

"We did, but they are nearly mature sub-adults. We're thinking they would know better than to cause trouble," Sam said.

"Dad!"

"Dad! Dad!" Matt and Pidge came racing over.

"Mr. Holt!"

"See, three have already returned to us," Ji-hun said gesturing to the Holts and Lance. The Galra mall cop looked at them before zooming away on his hover Segway.

"They have a Mercury console here. A Mercury!" Pidge said. They were really excited.

"We need money to buy it!" Matt said. They all looked at Ji-hun.

"What?"

"You're the alien," Pidge said.

"Right, and you think I have GAC on me? Me, an Iyurian?" Ji-hun said.

"Probably," Matt said.

"I don't. Coran has all the currency and we lost him after we lost all of you," Ji-hun said shrugging.

"Aw man!" Lance said. They all slumped away.

"But you do have currency," Sam said once they were out of earshot.

"It's Xandarian Credits. Those are no good here," Ji-hun said.

"Oh."

* * *

Keith had been watching the knife expert and noticed that while there had been some sort of Galra mall cop zip past him, there weren't many Galra in the mall. He felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Hey, cub. Aren't ya a little young to not be in school right now?" Keith turned to see it was the mall cop.

"I'm here with my dad," Keith said.

"I don't smell any other Galra like you," the mall cop said. Crap, he was a Jungle Galra like Keith.

"Adopted. He's Iyurian. He knew my parents and took me in after they died," Keith said. He was a shit liar.

"Sure and my name isn't Varkon," he said.

"Is it?" Keith asked.

"It is!"

* * *

Lance, Matt, and Pidge were digging through the fountain for coins after getting the idea from seeing an alien toss coins into it like earthlings usually do.

"We almost have enough, just 5 more!" Pidge said looking up from their pile to Matt.

"Where's Lance?" Matt asked. Lance burst from the water catching a 5 coin in his teeth like a dolphin and they just blink at him, but it was what they needed.

"Let's go get the Mercury console!" Pidge said.

"Yeah!" the guys cheered.

* * *

Hunk's accidental sampling of food had lead to the best day ever for Sal of Veript Sal's. He'd never been this popular! Hunk was a goldmine of a find!

* * *

Keith was trying to outrun the mall cop Varkon. Damn it! When was he going to learn that Galra take kids' safety seriously!

" _Gotta go_!" he yelled running past Ji-hun in Japanese.

"You! You kidnappers!"

"Crap," Ji-hun said, "He thinks I kidnapped my own kid!" Sam looked at the guard and they bolted after Keith.

* * *

The alien at the Area 51 store looked nervous when the mall cop began to chase Keith, Ji-hun, and Sam.

"Here, comes with a free Kattlenecker!" he said.

"Sweet!" Lance said taking the lead for the hover cow.

* * *

"Hop on!" Keith looked up at the hovering Lance, Matt, and Pidge. He leapt on behind Lance while the older men simply grabbed onto an edge. Hunk ran out joining them.

"Guys! I've got the Scualtrite!" Coran caught up to them, catching a ride off into the…well not sunset but it was the end of an adventure, where Lance smacked his head on the way out.

* * *

 _"Where did you get this footage?" Twyla asked rewinding it to the cow soaring over the mall goers to the exit._

 _"Some swap moon mall," Sinecline said, "I made sure that the mall cop, Varkon, thought it reached Father, but instead I flagged it as just another false sighting. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing this."_

 _"This is comedic_ ** _gold_** _!" Twyla pressed play again and laughed at the poor hapless mall cop._

 _"I already paid for the damages," Sinecline said._

 _"Good, and get that guy an acting job! He'd be a great comedian!" Twyla said._

 _"Really?"_

 _"No."_


	26. Edge of Advance

_Summary:_

 _Moving forwards, the Paladins and company interact with The Blades and begin to form their Coalition with the freeing of the Olkari_  
 _\- - - - -_  
 _An experimental chapter (one of two)_

* * *

"We're at the coordinate Ulaz provided," Coran stated. Ji-hun stared at the pair of black holes in slight awe.

"The base is in between them, and there appear to only be a few safe paths down that collapse every few quintams," Coran remarked. A face appeared on the screen.

"Greetings we are the Paladins of Voltron. We were told to seek out your organzation by Ulaz," Shiro said.

"I am Kolivan. I see you have Princess Twyla's offspring with you. Can you be certain you can trust the blood of Zarkon?" Kolivan asked. Keith bristled a little.

"He might be galra, and he might be related to Zarkon, but I know Keith would never betray us," Coran said. Allura nodded.

"You must trust her a little since she worked with rebels like you did," Keith said.

"True. Her rebel factions and our order have had goals align, but her factions were always too flashy for any…longer term alliances to last," Kolivan replied, "This is no way to conduct negotiations. You are cleared to come down to the base but only your leader and one other may come and leave all weapons—ceremonial or not—behind."

* * *

Ji-hun watched as the red lion was maneuvered down the narrow path of safety.

"Keith's the best pilot I've ever seen, I'm sure he'll be right as a weblum in an asteroid field!" Coran said.

"So long as we don't see any of those up close," Ji-hun said.

"Since there are many different rebel groups, think there are any Iyurian ones?" Matt asked.

"Of course there are. We make the best blades in the known universe," Ji-hun said.

"So, did you make the Blades of Marmorra's weapons too?" Pidge asked. Ji-hun nodded.

"Not me personally but the working of luxite is an exclusively Iyurian craft. Even Keith's crest blade is Luxite," Ji-hun stated.

"What makes that so special?" Hunk asked.

"IF certain things are met, it can sort of change shape like a bayard but only on a particular way," Ji-hun explained.

"So….does that mean Keith's crest thinga-ma-jig can also change shape?" Lance said.

"Yes."

"No fair!" Ji-hun placed a hand on his chin for a few moments.

"Princess, correct me if I'm wrong but don't barnyards change when the paladins need them to?" He asked.

"Whenever they've fully gotten into their roles, they are supposed to do so," Allura replied.

"What, really! So I could go from a gun to cool sword or something? Not that I'd want a sword…," Lance coughed to hide his excitement.

"If that's what suited your needs, yes," Ji-hun said with a laugh.

"Perhaps, while we wait for Shiro to negotiate with these Blades, you should all work on manifesting changes in your bayards," Coran suggested. Hunk gulped a little.

"My pleasure," Ji-hun said with a smirk.

"Man you are so Keith's dad," Lance moaned.

* * *

Keith and Shiro arrived back to see the other paladins exhausted.

"What happened here?" Keith asked.

"You don't wanna know man," Hunk groaned.

"We actually wore out the Iyuiran energizer bunny, though," Pidge said as they draped an arm over their face.

"I think we are better off not knowing then. Wanna spar?" Shiro asked.

"Sure!" Keith said.

* * *

"Spores sending out an S-O-S? That's so unbelievably cool!" Pidge exclaimed as they examined the space spore's signal.

"Olkarian then," Ji-hun said.

"I recall they were one of the most advanced races in the universe!" Coran said. Pidge's eyes lit up.

"Oh, they still are but they've gone more technorganic as of late no thanks to the empire," Ji-hun said.

"Technorganic?" Ji-hun looked over at the slightly crushed faces of Hunk and Pidge.

"Don't be like that. It's much cooler than you'd think. Hey, Coran, isn't the Green Paladin supposed to be the Guardian of Nature or something?" Ji-hun looked over at Coran.

"Right on!"

"Nah. I prefer my nature on the other side of a window or indoors," Pidge said.

"Give it a chance," Ji-hun replied.

"Fine."

* * *

"I did see that right?" Ji-hun asked Coran as they witnessed Pidge's plant beam take apart the cube.

"You did indeed," Coran said.

* * *

 **MP** :

So this is a two episode/drabble-ish chapter. It's a little experimental and short but I would rather expend my energy on the final chapter than just transcribing episodes of Season 2 and adding extra dialogue. It would be redundant and honestly, I don't want to do the other way.  
Re-writing episodes with minute changes is a drain on the creative process so I decided I really wouldn't. I will, however put extra effort into the last chapter: Chapter 12 Reckoning. So. Enjoy Chapter 10 for now and I'll be back in a couple weeks with Chapter 11.


	27. Plans and Gathering

_Summary:_

Second of two more experimental chapters  
 _\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -_  
 _Team Voltron has a plan, but in order to get that plan in motion for their newly formed alliances, some assembly and pieces are required._

* * *

"Still insane we have a whole force joining us and now we have to go into a weblum after sculltrite!" Hunk exclaimed. Keith and Ji-hun gave him a sort of "look." Hunk coughed.

"So…Coran gave us an instructional video—."

"Don't need it," Ji-hun said.

"But we've never even seen a weblum!" Hunk whined.

"You two might not have, but Coran wasn't entirely wrong in asking me about sculltrite once," Ji-hun explained as he pulled up a picture of one on the screen. Hunk paled and Keith narrowed his eyes at it.

"Weblums eat the remains of planets, and their digestive tracks produce the sculltrite needed for teledovs and other technology but this also is part of their primary defense's processes too. They're living mining drills," Ji-hun pointed to a display of one spitting energy beams.

"We'll have to get in through a vent hole on its head. I'll pilot the ship and draw its fire. You two will get in, go through it's digestive track without ending up in it's actual stomach following a sort of straight path through it, and get what we need. Once done, there will likely be bowel or some sort of other exit-valve in that segment to escape from the Weblum. Don't be too surprised if you find a ship in there. Weblums have been known to eat those."

* * *

Keith spotted the Galran vessel and didn't hesitate to help the Galra trapped inside. The helmet was reflective but there was something familiar about this Galra. Hunk wandered on ahead.

"Who are you," Keith asked in Galran.

"Little Ki'eth, you look so much better in that than our colors."

"Uncle Sinecline?" Keith gasped.

"Be a good little nephew and not tell your human friend about me? I'm undercover," Sinecline stated.

"Fine," Keith said after a moment.

* * *

"I can't believe that guy stole sculltrite from us!" Hunk moaned.

"I wonder what he was using it for," Keith said.

"Probably nothing good because he looked like he was totally empire," Hunk said.

"There are many uses for sculltrite and most of them are not good," Ji-hun added.

"Hope that being a better person doesn't come back to bite us in the butts," Hunk looked out the side viewport. Keith just looked down.

* * *

Meanwhile on Betatraz during the mission to rescue Slav…

"I'm just the comic relief."

"Yup."

"Geeze, you can't even try to cheer me up?" Lance looked over at whom he taught was Slav and it just "Yup" at him again.

* * *

"Lance, that's not Slav! That's a Yupper!"

"Oh," Lance said.

"Get down!" Pidge tackled Lance out of the way of the angry warden.

"Lance, take aim at that!" Shiro pointed at a panel above them.

"On it!" Lance took it out with precision.

"Great work. That's why we brought our sharpshooter!" Shiro said. Of course Slav didn't help matters.

"Let's get off Betatraz," Pidge said facepalming over the fact the little alien had managed to flap the unflappable Shiro.

* * *

Ji-hun had gotten more used to just sitting back and watching as the plan came together. The teledov (and it's gravity distorter) were being working on by Slav and the Olkari. The Paladins were planning on infiltrating Zarkon's ship to disable it. And he…

"You alright?" Sam Holt offered him some coffee.

"Just worried. This is all going too well," Ji-hun took the glass. No mugs on the Castle of Lions, sadly.

"I know what you mean, but I have faith that this has to work," Sam Holt replied.

"To end Zarkon's Tyranny once and for all. That's something the Iyurians would drink to," Ji-hun said.

"Aren't a group of your people helping the Olkari?" Sam asked.

"Probably." Ji-hun downed the coffee handing the glass back to Sam.

"You know if she is in the battle, she'll have to pretend to be on his side," Sam said. Ji-hun gave him a look.

"I know."

* * *

 **MP:**

Here it is, right as promised. Technically, it's not a full two weeks but who's counting right?  
Following this will be the final chapter of this whole fic: "Reckoning."  
There may or may not be a final Epilogue One Shot...All depends on how I'm feeling after I get "Reckoning" finished (it's nearly done btw I just need to fully flesh out one last section).  
Again, this was a short-sketch like chapter because I hate re-writing actual show episodes. It's so...bland at times and makes it hard for me to be creative. I know there are those who do this sort of thing well, and more power to them. Me...not so much.  
Thanks for sticking with me. Just wait a little bit longer and soon, this AU will come to a close.


	28. Reckoning

_Summary:_

 _It all comes to a head. The Alliance. The Empire. The Children of Zarkon, and the Paladins of Voltron._  
 _It all ends in one last battle._

* * *

Twyla looked over the other "lions" her sister had made. They looked like different big cats than lions, if she was honest.

"I know what you're thinking and you are correct! They're not all lions!" Terra said as she gestured at the assembled beasts.

She gestured at the slightly bulky blood-orange colored feline, "That is Dawn Panther."

"Who will be paired with it?" Twyla asked.

"Because trust is essential to form Phantom Zone, I've selected those people you trust most in the empire!"

"Meaning?" Twyla asked.

"Merra. It's Merra. That lovely periwinkle beast is the Noon Cougar and Zaerif gets to pilot it. That yellow-orange creation is the Dusk Tiger and Arlioth will be its pilot," Terra indicated the next two, though the yellow orange one had reddish-brown stripes as well.

"But Arlioth can't fly in a straight line!" Twyla complained.

"So what? The AI will compensate! Neera gets the teal one the Morning Cheetah!" Terra said.

"You seriously made the other four in your favorite colors because you could, didn't you?" Twyla said.

"Why not? You can't tell me that King Alfor of Altea making a lion that particular shade of Red was a coincidence," Terra replied.

"Point taken. Too bad you weren't born in Sinecline's place, you'd have been able to meet Alfor," Twyla said.

"I know," Terra said quietly.

"I've intercepted the Blades of Marmorra and the Voltron Alliance's communications. They intend to lure father into a trap where they will teledov him away from the main fleet," Sinecline said as he entered, "I also laid eyes on Keith. He's fine, despite going into a Weblum after sculltrite."

"He did **_what_.** "

"Calm yourself, Twy. I had everything under control. Though I had to steal a bag of scultrite to keep suspicions off me," Sinecline said.

"How are we working this?" Twyla asked.

* * *

Twyla was prepping Night Lion for the fight she knew was coming.

"The Paladins are on the ship."

"Ahhh! _Comriactain!_ Sinecline, what have I told you about sneaking up on me while I'm working!" Twyla whirled around to face her brother, fur bushed a little.

"Though you'd like to know those allies of yours are also on board, so be prepared to fight those as well," Sinecline said as he walked away.

"And where the infrinn do you think you're going now!" Twyla yelled.

"Everyone has to get into position. You'll probably be launching as soon as Voltron's paladins do whatever it is they are doing," Sinecline said. _What does he even mean by that—_. An explosion shook the floor of the hanger.

"Intruder alert!"

"Oh. That."

"We're on our way to the ships!" Merra's voice came from a nearby com unit.

"I haven't finished prep yet!" Twyla yelled.

"Work on Arlioth's. The rest of us can handle ours," Neera's voice said.

"Fine. Any idea of where the other Paladins are?" Twyla asked.

"So far reports of all but the Red one escaping have come in."

"Just like your cub to drive up the suspense, right Twy?" Arlioth chimed in.

"Just shut up and get here!"

* * *

 _Depths of the ship near the engine…._

"It was an honor to fight with you," Keith said to Thace.

"As it was mine, Paladin, now go."

* * *

"Is he out yet?" Twyla asked for the fifteenth time.

"Not yet. Terra still reports his readings on the main ship," Zaerif calmly replied. Twlya drummed her fingers on the joysticks of Night Lion as more time passed, just before the teledov was exposed.

"Well _comriactain_." Arlioth said it, but Twyla _felt_ it.

 _Hurry Ki'eth._

 _"Project Phantom Zone, deploy!"_ Zarkon's voice boomed over the hanger.

"Veript Sa," Twyla replied.

"We're getting the readings. Remember, only put up a token fight against Voltron. Until they warp the ship away, do not reveal your truth," Terra said.

"On it!"

Twyla notices the red lion flying on its own and she smiled.

"Form up, Project Phantom Zone!"

Keith saw the five cat shaped robots appear and for a moment he was stunned by the false Voltron's appearances but they formed up into their less humanoid combined form. It was more feral looking than Voltron. Less refined.

"We are Taibhse, Voltron," Twyla said.

"Stick to the plan. Attack!" Shiro yelled. The engament was slow but the teledov activated at last, as the lights went out on Zarkon's ship.

"I've never seen one that big," Merra gasped as she took in the wormhole.

"That's what she said." Arlioth blinked at the chorus of voices from the other three with him.

"Too predictable," Zaerif said.

"You're no fun," he pouted.

"Enough, Taibhse, let's follow the castle and the lions before we miss out on the real fight. Zari, take care of the rest!" Twyla yelled.

"With pleasure," Zari replied before he lost contact with the Taibhse.

They arrived to see Voltron formed.

 _"Take them on, now!"_ Zarkon snarled. Twyla rolled her eyes and her hand hovered right above her broadcast button but something else broadcast instead. Or, rather, _someone_ else.

"Sinecline?" Behind him were destroyed robots and a beaten up Lotor.

"Sorry, but no more shall we support this. Arriora. Malior. The Witch is yours."

"You dare turn on me? I gave you everything!" Zarkon yelled.

"My father did. You just wear his face!" Sinecline retorted. Sounds from behind him had him turn just to face an onslaught of living goons. A slash to the receiver cut off his message.

"Taibhse, form laser sword!" Twyla ordered. It appeared in purple light.

"Looking good for a cheap knock off!" Lance commented.

"Well let My sister Terra know that "cheap" was the aesthetic this several billion dollar GAC project gives off," Merra said.

"B-billion?" Hunk stammered.

"Zarkon wanted the next best thing to Voltron, so, money to make these wasn't an issue," Zaerif said.

"Energy spike from the ship!" Zaerif yelled.

* * *

 _Haggar heard the commotion and saw two of the other treacherous spawn of Zarkon had caught up to her and her druids as they approached the komar._

 _"Malior. Here I thought you were a better son than your brother and sister turned out to be," Haggar sneered._

 _"Vile witch, you poisoned your self and then him with your tainted power!" Malior yelled. He threw a blast at her but a druid blocked him._

 _"You two aren't worth my time," Haggar turned and waved to four of the group._

 _"The rest of you are more than adequate. Dispose of them and join us when possible," she ordered._

* * *

"Paladins, come in, are you all alright?" Allura asked.

"We're alive princess but Voltron's not responding," Shiro said.

"Shouldn't all the weapons be down?" Coran asked.

"That's no weapon, it's magic. It's like something pulled the quintessence out," Allura mused.

"It's the Komar," Kolivan and Twyla chimed in.

"Sorry. Quitessence sucker. Should have known it was real," Twyla said.

"As the princess so indelicately put it, yes," Kolivan said.

"We'll hold off any attacks to buy you time, you have our word," Zaerif said.

"Bold talk for the right leg," Neera said.

"Not the time Neera," Merra said.

"Um, what's that?" Pidge asked. Taibhse's crew gasped as the mecha Zarkon appeared.

"That….was not part of the plan," Twyla said.

"No _focca_ ," Neera said.

"The readings indicate we're well and truly up the focca starlane without backup power," Zaerif replied.

"We'll leave you to this, Voltron, we'll help but we have lower limits," Twyla said.

"We'll take whatever we can get," Shiro said.

"Don't die," Keith said.

"Likewise."

"Taibhse, be advised we are joining the fray!" Allura said.

"What, but that thing—."

"We have more fire power than you do at the moment!" Allura yelled.

"You heard her," Neera said.

"You're right," Twyla said. They twirled away and took up a defensive position around Voltron.

"Listen to me. You are true paladins now. Reach out to your lions. Connect with each other. Fight. This cannot end now!"

The castle ship let out the massive blue beam right at the Zarkon mecha.

"What the ifrinn!" Arlioth yelled.

"Amazing," Neera said.

"You said it," Merra replied. Twyla gasped as the shield of wings formed and the beam.

"Barrel roll, now!" They barely avoided the deflected beam from Zarkon's counter.

"Castle of Lions! Do you read!" Twyla yelled as Shiro yelled,

"Allura!"

Zarkon turned his attention on them. It felt like he was staring right at them.

"Get ready. He intends to take us out in one blow. We cannot let him take us down," Twyla said. Zarkon's mecha was fast, faster than Taibhse, but not quit as agile as the smaller machine. With a twist they barely avoided death by the Zarkon Mecha's laser sword. A second strike nearly got them but,

"Looks like you needed help," Shiro said. Voltron's sword had save their life.

"We'll make it even soon," Twyla replied as they got clear.

"Hey, drones are out," Neera said.

"Paladins, We've got the small fry." Merra says.

"Take him out. For all of us," Twyla yells.

* * *

Arriora held her side, pinkish blood stained her robes. Malior panted and offered her a slightly smoking hand. The last of the six they'd faced lay smoldering before them.

"We need to stop the komar from being used twice," Arriora said.

"We will." Arriora's eyes were drawn to the nearest view port where Voltron avoided another komar blast and Zarkon took a slightly cheap shot kicking them and then Taibhse took an ever cheaper shot at Zarkon, pile driving the mechanic.

Malior blew open the door to the Komar chamber, and they were promptly blasted by one of the four druids floating around Haggar.

"Shame. You're still here." Haggar yelled. Malior moved to do something but movement caught his eyes and he turned his head to see the discarded space-hand speeder get crashed into her hover platform. This put an end to her magic's proliferation in the komar and the remnants of the ship. It was t he Blades or Marmorra and Princess Allura. The blade with a tail, Antok, looked to Malior.

"Get your sister and run." Malior nodded before he looked back.

"The witch isn't like the average druid," Malior cautioned as he used his remaining power to shield himself and Arriora as they fled the line of fire and seemingly the fight.

"Wait. We need to stay."

The druids and their magic were—at first— more than a match for the blades of Marmorra. Especially whenever Haggar backed her minions up, blasting the armor clad Galra rebels. However, that's whenever Allura managed to get into the fray. The Altean Princess trading even blows with Zarkon's witch, until a blast revealed Haggar's true face.

"You're _Altean?_ " Allura gasped at the revealed marks on her face. Haggar merely snarled and threw herself back into the fight but, Allura took her best shots, absorbed the magic and sent it right back at her and then some, taking her down, and the light went out all around them in the komar. It was finally offline. Before the Witch could move, a blaster bolt nailed her right through the forehead. The blades and Allura followed its trajectory to see the heavily bleeding Arriora was holding the smoking blaster.

"That's the end of you…witch." Her eyes rolled up into her head as Malior struggled to stabilize her.

"You were supposed to have left," Allura said.

"Arriora did the universe a _favor_. You don't know the depths of her depravity," Malior said.

"We need to get out of here," A Blade said to Allura.

"Come with us," Allura offered to Malior and Arriora. He shrugged and nodded.

* * *

Twyla grit her teeth as she watched the main battle from the sidelines practically. There wasn't much Taibhse could do to that _thing_ Zarkon managed to have whipped up even under Terra's nose!

"Twy, something's wrong with Voltron's readings!" Zaerif yelled. Twyla barely saw what was being pointed out to her the moments before Voltron inexplicably broke apart.

"We cannot let him get the head. Taibhse, time to break apart and protect the Black Lion!" Twyla pressed the command in her console, which initiated their break down.

* * *

 _Shiro faced down the would be galactic tyrant and felt the Black Lion make her choice and it was_ ** _not_** _Zarkon after they clashed._

 _In reality he blinked and looked down._

 _"Guys, I have the black bayard."_

* * *

Twyla let out a sigh of relief whenever she saw Voltron reform.

"Form up!" Taibhse reformed and stood at the ready, but Voltron's final attack destroyed that machine effectively winning the day.

"Twyla, we're forming our blaster canon, now!" Zaerif barked.

"What? Why?" Twyla asked.

"Just do it!" Zaerif yelled. Twyla did so and soon Zaerif had control of it and blasted all that remained into atomized particles.

"Voltron to Taibhse _What the Quiznak was that!_ " Lance's commincation came.

"Castle of Lions chiming in as well, and I'd also like to know!" Coran asked.

"Don't you know that the stupid witch, if she's still alive, could reanimate him?"Zaerif replied.

"That's news to me," Twyla said.

"How do you think he's immortal without the anti-aging serum the rest of us take?" Merra chimed in.

"Oh."

"I require back-up!" Sinelcine's message rang out.

"Voltron, we leave the rest out here to you. For now, we've got an empire to dismantle from the inside."

Taibhse broke apart and headed for the galra ship.

* * *

The robots' sudden reactivation caught Sinecline off guard and he frantically worked to repel them his his short energy dagger. A sword slashed at him, severing some of his long white hair.

"Spending so long plotting in the dark, your practical skills have withered, baby brother!" Lotor sneered.

"After all this time, I've been dying to know why. Why do you support him?" Sinecline asked.

"Support him? Don't be daft. That thing is not our father. Hasn't been in millennia. I've merely been biding my time and continuing my work waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Much like you, but tell me, do you also desire to be Emperor or are you just another fool who thinks the universe needs to be free from those who'd shape it to be better!" Sinecline lost his grip on the hilt of his laser sword and was forced to pull out a couple of his luxite throwing knives which expanded into daggers.

"Those are as worthless as their wielder!" Lotor yelled.

* * *

Twyla leapt out of Night Lion and hit the ground running as power sputtered back on.

"We're withdrawing with your brother and sister," Allura's call came in.

"Good. Get them to safety. The rest of us will take control of the ship. Is the Witch dead?"

"Arriora shot her," Malior said.

"She was an Altean. A pure one all this time and she was working with _him,_ " Arriora weakly said.

"Shut up and let them treat you!" Merra yelled.

"We got sentries!" Arlioth said.

"We'll speak later!" Merla yelled. As if on cue, the robots began to swarm them.

"How many of these scrap heaps did they stock this ship with!" Merra yelled.

"Too many!" Twyla replied. They had fought their way up to the deck where Sinceline was. Twyla hot-wired open a door only for Sinecline to sail out of it and slam into the hallway wall. Lotor, panting heavily and looking crazed strode out. He regarded them as they slipped into fighting stances but injuries and exhaustion stole any real intimidation by numbers might have had.

"Are you _all_ my enemies now?" He sneered.

"I have always been, and you draitaolc well know why, **_brother_** ," Merra snarled.

"You stopped being my brother when you did _that_ to Merra," Arlioth yelled.

"You never liked my existence anyway," Twyla said after a few moments.

"The empire is mine by rights!" Lotor yelled.

They charged him and he repelled their attacks.

"How is he doing that?" Arlioth asked.

"Think, genius. We had to fight our way here, and he only had to fight Sinecline whose focus was never hand to hand and Twyla's not a combat specialist either," Merra snapped.

"Less talking, more fighting!" Twyla whined. Lotor sent her skidding away just before Arlioth and Merra attempted a double teamed attack, that might have worked had they had more steam. Twyla weakly rejoined the fray. _At this rate we're going to—_ Something whizzed past her cheek, drawing some blood and struck true into Lotor's heart. A throwing knife. Sinecline limped in, arm still extended, second knife at the ready in his other hand.

"Are my knives worthless now?" Sinecline sneered.

"Foul, treacherous—," Lotor choked out. Sinecline cut him off.

"You know, I knew that should we succeed, we'd have to kill you too, but now that we're in the moment, I'm….having second thoughts," Sinecline said.

"Even after all this you're still as soft as ever, and you have a misguided sense of mercy?" Lotor snarled.

"No. Because what you've done and what you did with Merra….death is too fast for that," Sinecline stated.

"No," Merra said.

"I didn't even say it," Sinecline replied.

"You didn't have to," Arlioth added.

"We will _not_ sink to his level, brother. That's not how this works," Twyla said.

"Isn't it? We helped rebels factions like the Blades of Marmorra among the other various rebellions and we helped Voltron take down our father. You and the pilots of Taibhse made sure he was destroyed. Is that not sinking to their level?" Sinecline yelled.

"So what if it was? Does that mean we should keep doing it?" Merra yelled.

"Killing him would also be sinking to his level. The best we can do is like we should do to a captured enemy vessel: disable his arms and lock him up in a prison even more secure than Betatraz," Twyla said.

"The middle path. **Weak**. Victory or death." Lotor gripped the dagger and shoved it in further and moved it around utterly destroying his heart and killing him on the spot. Stunned silence reigned.

"I….didn't think he'd do that," Arlioth said. Sinecline closed his brother's eyes.

"We have a lot of work to do," he said after a moment.

* * *

"Incoming message from Zarkon's Vessel!" Coran said. Everyone had been pacing and were relived when the Children of Zarkon, minus Lotor, appeared on screen.

"Greetings all in broadcast range. Zarkon is dead. Lotor is dead. The Witch Haggar is also dead. The Kral Zera will take place soon, but know this: All of the remaining Children of Zarkon who draw breath, and their fleets have vowed to support my bid for emperor, and so you should think carefully to opposing me. This is Sinecline, Zarkon's eldest son, Signing off."

* * *

 **MP:**

There will be a short epilogue.  
But yeah the storyline of Lab Rat is now (officially) done.  
Who would have thought that two years ago, out of my own desire to see non-romance oriented Galra!Keith fics (and my love of fanart where Keith was transformed into a fluffy galra) that this series would stretch this long?  
Certainly not me.  
The Epilogue will be up soon. It's sugary, it's sappy but it's also how I want this storyline to end.  
You might notice how I made sure to kill off Lotor, Haggar, and Zarkon.

That's because, for this story, this is where it all must end. I don't want to attempt to make the events of Seasons 3-6 (with 7 on the way) fit into my very alerted timeline (especially since I love Krolia so much!).  
So, I wasn't.

Who knows, maybe there will be more but as of this moment, I have no plans to do much more until after Season 8 of Voltron is over (since that will be the last season).  
So, as to not end up with parts of canon that are awesome and don't fit into my work.

Thanks to all who have stuck with this story while I was so horribly stuck on it.  
I hope you've enjoyed the ride.  
I know I did.  
Sincerely,  
Mysterious Prophetess


	29. Epilogue: Resolution

_Epilogue: Resolution_

* * *

Sinecline sat on the much revised throne in the new throne room on his (in comparison to his predacesspr ) modest flag ship. It looked so much simpler than before. Dark metal, sleek lines, deceptively plain. Much like the man who sat in it.

"Are the last of Lotor's captives free now?" He asked his aide.

"The last of the Altean colonists have been released from their containment and the full data from Lotor's sick experiments has been turned over to your sister for further study," she said.

"That will be all Kira," Sinecline said.

"The last of Sendak's rebellion has been quelled," Zari said as he barged in the doors.

"Knew you could do it. How goes the petitions for separations in other systems, Anjuna?" Anjunua pulled up the screens from her wrist computer.

"More are pouring in daily, but not as many as you might think. Other petitions seem to be merely for the cessation of slavery and equal rights under the law," Anjuna said.

"Good. Any luck in locating a new planet for New Altea?" Sinecline asked Falla, his second in command when it came to all things spy related and intelligence.

"A few planets here and there, but ultimately Princess Allura would have to make the final choice," Falla replied.

"Any news from our Earthling envoy?"

"Twyla checked in a varga ago and you know it. She'll be fine. Baby sister survived a crash landing before," Merra said as she entered with serving droids on her heels laden with hover trays covered in food.

"Now let's eat!"

* * *

Twyla paced in her room in the Castle of Lions as they made their way back to Earth, to officially welcome the planet into inter-stellar politics, and to allow those Paladins with families on the blue planet to reunite.

"You're going to wear a grove into the floor," Ji-hun said from his spot on their bed.

"What if they turn on the paladins?" Twyla worried.

"They won't get past the lions, and the Iyurians still on Earth are gathering to greet us as well. It will be alright."

* * *

"I can't wait to see everyone!" Lance was practically bouncing in his seat on deck as the Earth loomed larger in the horizon.

"Hopefully everyone believed Mom when she called them," Pidge said as they played with the hem of their shirt. Matt messed with their hair.

"It'll be fine. Mom's pretty convincing when she wants to be!" Matt said. Sam Holt seemed also fairly eager. Hunk was practically crying from happiness. Shiro seemed really nervous and Keith seemed to be…a bit aloof about the whole thing.

I wonder what Mr. Shirogane will think now. Keith caught a glimpse of his reflection and realized that unless someone really knew him, he really did look totally alien when compared to the Alteans.

"This is Galaxy Garrison Hailing Unknown Alien Vessel. Respond."

"Galaxy Garrison, this is Allura of Altea, responding from the Castle of Lions. We come in peace. We would like to speak with your planet about its place in the universe. To that end, we bring with us the Defenders of the Universe, the Paladins of Voltron, as well as those who have been taken from your Kerberos Expedition," Allura said. The silence that reigned was tangible.

"Repeat that."

"On board our vessel we have the crew of the ill-fated Kerberos Mission, safe and sound," Coran said.

"This is Commander Sam Holt," Sam Holt said.

"Matt Holt," Matt mock saluted even though it wasn't a video feed.

"And This is Commander Takashi Shirogane…..again," Shiro said.

* * *

The Castle touched down in the desert not too far from a certain shack. Waiting for them were the families who ehtusiastically embraced their missing pieces. Lance was practically dog piled by his many relations. Hunk's mother and father were hugging him tightly, while the three Space-bound Holts were hugging Colleen Holt. Shiro had let go of his father—Tamaki and was awkwardly talking to,

"Who is that?" Ji-hun asked Keith.

"Shiro's ex: Adam," Keith said. Shiro and Adam seemed to talk it out after a few moments before the slightly taller man grabbed Shiro into a impassioned kiss.

"Kid has good taste," Twyla said. Her comment was just loud enough for Shiro and Adam to both blush a little.

"Um. Adam, remember Keith? Well, the purple woman is his mother, and his dad's not dead after all," Shiro said gesturing between Twyla and Ji-hun.

"Why is Keith purple?" Adam asked.

"Long story," Shiro said.

"You helped Shiro in taking care of our son. I thank you for that. If you ever need anything, let me know. I have connections in very high places in the universe," Twyla said with a slight bow.

"She's not kidding," Shiro said.

"What is going on here?" Twyla looked up to see the red-faced human representative of the Garrison had finally arrived at their coordinates.

"Reunions with the families of those who left Earth, what does it look like?" Twyla asked as she strode over to him. Being Galra, she stood taller than the human man.

"You! You were—."

"Yes. I was. It's a good thing I was broken out by one of yours, or your planet might have ended up destroyed. Officially, I am here as an ambassador of the Galra Empire- which is currently under new management. In the past, they were a very dangerous entity, but now, they're only mildly threatening with my eldest brother Emperor Sinecline on the throne. I am Princess Twyla, but "Your Highness" will do. It also gives me great pleasure to introduce Princess Allura of Altea," Twyla said as she gestured to Allura who was currently chatting with Lance's mother. Allura looked over and glided to meet him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to come inside so we can talk logistics?" Allura said.

* * *

Later that Night

Keith sat on the roof of the shack staring up at the stars.

"Room for five more?" He looked over to see the other paladins and Allura. Keith nodded and scooted over.

"To think, it all started sort of like this, right guys?" Lance said.

"Speak for yourself," Keith said.

"Ok, I will!" Lance crossed his arms.

"It's so beautiful," Allura said.

"There's a whole lot more of Earth than just this guy's roof," Shiro said.

"There's Cuba, where I'm from and Hawaii where Hunk's from and so much more. You've totally got to see it all!" Lance said.

"I'd be glad to. You'll show me around?" Allura asked.

"Of course!" Lance puffed himself up with a goofy grin.

"Splendid! I can't wait to explore your planet with all of you," Allura said. Lance comically deflated a bit, which made everyone laugh.

"I guess Earth finally got that question answered for it," Pidge said.

"What?" Keith asked.

"Well, soon they'll know they're not alone in the universe," Pidge replied.

"Yeah. Right," Keith said.

"I mean some humans found that out sooner than others, am I right?" Lance waggled an eyebrow.

"My dad's literally half alien," Keith replied.

"Oh. Right."

"Hard to believe it's been….a year, though right?" Pidge said. They looked at everyone.

"One really eventful year," Hunk said.

"I wouldn't change any of it," Shiro said.

"Me neither," Keith said.

"Really? Even after the whole purple and furry-ifcation?" Lance asked.

"Even that," Keith replied flatly.

"Oh, look, a meteor shower!" Allura yelled. Everyone looked up.

"Oh! Make a wish you guys!" Lance said. Keith looked around and even caught a glimpse of his mother and father staring up at him from below. He didn't need to make a wish. He already had everything he needed, right there.

* * *

Fin

* * *

 **MP** : As you can see I **** did **** manage to fit some of the other seasons revelations into the mix here.

Especially Adam.


End file.
